Arianna's Tale: The Beginning (15 page)

He laughed a real laugh and it was one of
the sweetest sounds I’d ever heard. “You are impossible, Arianna.
If those words had come from Rayne, you would not have given him
such an unachievable task.” His laugh trailed off into a sigh,
“What do I have to do…? What have I done to make you dislike
me?”

“I don’t
dislike
you… I don’t trust
the things going on around here…” I murmured, staring down at my
lap.

“But if Rayne had asked you out… would you
have given him the same answer?” He continued, but I shrugged my
shoulders, staring out at the tree line. My eyes widened briefly, I
saw it again, the thing running through the trees, but as I
watched, it stopped across from me. I caught a glance of nearly
white fur before it was gone. When I jumped off of the bench to run
after it, Alex merely grabbed my wrist and though it stretched his
arm out, and mine as well, he managed to stop me in my tracks.

“Don’t, Arianna,” his voice was calm and
firm and left no room for question, but I jerked my arm free and
spun to face him.

“This is why I won’t trust anyone here,” I
hissed, lifting my hand to point towards the woods. “There was
something out there; something that moves faster than any animal
that should be living around here… And you knew it was there and
stopped me from going to see what it was.” He stared silently up
into my eyes, his aqua eyes nearly entrancing me, but I refused to
let him get to me. “Tell me, or leave me alone.”

“If those are my only two options… then I
bid you adieu. But you will not be allowed out into the forest,
whether I’m here or not,” he finalized. His hand slid into mine and
he kissed my fingertips as he stood up before he turned and walked
back into the barn.

I stared after him for a long moment before
looking back out at the tree line. I couldn’t help it, my curiosity
was definitely getting the best of me. I only waited a few minutes
before walking towards the forest.

“Hey, Anna,” Jack greeted and I jumped
mid-air as he burst out laughing. I hadn’t even made it halfway
across the field before he’d seemed to materialize beside me. “I’m
sorry,” he chuckled, “I didn’t mean to scare you. What are you
doing out here all by yourself anyway?”

I sighed and turned towards the cars that
were parked in front of the barn. “I’m going home,” I grumbled, but
he reached out and grabbed my wrist lightly.

“Wait a second! Why are you leaving? It’s
your brother’s birthday party,” he worriedly questioned and he was
right, it was Jason’s birthday party. That was about the only thing
that made me hesitate. But Austin and I had driven separately on
purpose.

“Because I want to. You all keep secrets
from me, I don’t see why I have to tell you why I want to leave,” I
countered coldly, jerking my arm out of his hand and continuing off
towards the cars.

“Anna, please!” Jack pleaded, his voice on
the edge of panic as I glanced back at him, “Please, it’s your
brother’s birthday party. He would be so upset if you left
early!”

He was right, it would absolutely devastate
Jason when he found out I had left. Part of me thought it would
serve them right, having to explain to my brother why I had left,
but the rational part of me knew they wouldn’t tell him the
truth.

“Leave me alone,” I growled, spinning around
and heading toward the barn.

“Arianna,” a voice beckoned from the shadows
of the barn and I froze, one hand darting up to my neck. “Please
don’t be angry.”

There’s no way… Alex hasn’t let me see him
at all… Definitely not alone.

Rayne walked out of the shadows and my
breath caught in my throat as I looked at his hazel eyes, barely
covered by that white blonde hair of his.

“Won’t you come inside with me?” he asked,
holding his hand out to me. I saw his eyes flicker as I took his
hand and he gently squeezed my hand as he led me into the barn.
Everyone was clustered around the table in the back where Jason’s
gifts had been piled. I swear, he’d never had such an extravagant
party in all of his thirteen years. Despite the crowd, I found his
eyes and he grinned back at me. Things had been a lot better around
the house since Mark had been found, but I still couldn’t really
get Jason to go off on his own and make friends. Just like then, he
looked at me and the spot next to him, but I looked at the sea of
people like a sea, un-crossable. I was also extremely aware of the
fact that Rayne had laced his fingers through mine and that the
people from his group were staring at us.

“Come on,” Rayne quietly beckoned, pulling
me closer to him as he maneuvered us through the crowd and up to
the front. When Jason realized that Rayne was with me, his
blue-green eyes darkened.

“Are you having fun, Jay?” I questioned,
releasing Rayne’s hand and hugging Jason which made him smile
again.

“Yeah! This is the coolest party!” he
exclaimed and hugged me back, lowering his voice to a whisper,
“What are you doing with him?”

“He was just bringing me inside to watch you
open presents,” I fibbed, but the look Jason gave me when he pulled
away made it obvious that he didn’t really believe me.

“Alex doesn’t like you being around him,” he
countered and I laughed softly.

“Alex doesn’t control me, Jay… and Alex
knows he’s with me,” I stated with certainty, despite the fact that
I hadn’t seen Alex again, I knew he knew.

“Of course he doesn’t control you,” Jason
balked, wide-eyed, “I didn’t mean that… I don’t want you going out
with somebody….”

“Oh… he won’t allow that,” I muttered and
shrugged my shoulders, “Don’t worry about that part.”

“But you said…”

“He doesn’t control
me
. Now open your
presents,” I insisted and he smiled faintly before turning back to
the stack of gifts while I took a step backwards, out of the
way.

Rayne’s hand slid back into mine. I knew it
was his without looking which startled me even more than the fact
that he was holding my hand in the middle of all these people. But
he was standing behind me enough that no one could actually see his
hand in mine. I glanced back at him out of the corner of my eye and
gasped almost silently.
White-blonde hair that looks a lot like
that white-blonde furred animal… he appeared out of nowhere when I
haven’t seen him since the bonfire… and Jack has completely
disappeared. What is going on?

Rayne’s hazel eyes searched my face and
scrunched in concern as I saw them flicker again. “Look how much
fun Jason’s having,” he remarked and I did look back at Jason to
find him opening another present in the giant pile while Austin
removed the trash from the area and Amy kept a list of who had
given him which presents. Jason really was having a lot of fun, and
I laughed softly, feeling Rayne’s hand briefly tighten on mine.

When the presents were all open, the food
nearly gone, and all the guests started to leave, I watched Alex
speaking to Caiden and Tobias who ended up getting my car keys from
me and loading all of Jason’s presents into my car. Alex didn’t
speak to me, he didn’t even really look at me, he just nodded his
head once toward Rayne before Rayne escorted my brothers and me out
of the barn.

They assured us they would take care of
cleaning everything up, and after a brief argument with Jason over
how there wasn’t any room for him in my car, he climbed in with
Austin, and we all headed toward the house.

I saw the animal in the tree line keeping
pace with my car again. It was pale blonde and almost glowed in the
moonlight, but just as quickly as I saw it, it disappeared. I
pulled off on the side of the road, picking up my cell phone with
shaking hands and dialing the one local number I had besides Dad’s.
My eyes darted up towards the tree line when I heard a ringtone
blaring into the night air, but just as soon as it started, it was
silent, and I realized the call I had made was going to voicemail
too soon.

“Hey Jack,” I recited into the phone, trying
to stop the quaver of my voice, “It’s Anna… I was just calling to
apologize for earlier… I shouldn’t have taken my frustration out on
you, you didn’t do anything wrong… Anyway… I’m really sorry. I hope
you didn’t disappear because of me. I’ll talk to you later.” I hung
up the call and put my phone back in my cup holder, staring out the
window for a long minute before I finally started for home
again.

I pulled into the garage and Jason ran back
out of the house, his blue-green eyes just the tiniest bit worried
until he spotted me.

“Couldn’t wait for your presents?” I
laughed, but he ran over and hugged me tightly when I was out of my
car, “I’m fine, Jay. Why are you so worried?”

“I don’t know,” he whispered, and my eyes
did briefly close as I reveled in the familiar comfort of his
embrace, but then I remembered what a bad idea that was, that I had
to stop encouraging him, and quickly backed away.

“Help me get your things inside,” I directed
and we unloaded all of the presents up to his room.

Over the next few days, I made a habit of
carrying a lounge chair into the back yard, and setting it up in
the grass facing the trees. I sat down, and tried to read a book,
but I kept looking up at the tree line, expecting to see that
animal again.

Jack called me back the day after the party
while I was sitting outside. He sounded really… happy? And assured
me that he had run off to tend to a family emergency, but
everything was okay, and asked if I had enjoyed the party.

“Yeah… I really did. Seeing Rayne again was
pretty cool. He seems nice… is there any chance you have his phone
number?” I hesitantly asked, listening to the silence on the other
end for a long minute.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll text it to you,” he
finally stated, the happiness drained from his voice and I felt a
knot of guilt in my stomach as I bit my lip and sat up in the
chair, swinging my feet to the side as they landed in soft grass.
“Anyway, I just wanted to call you back, let you know it wasn’t
your fault, and you didn’t need to apologize.”

“Come over,” I blurted in a whisper,
listening to a long stretch of silence again.

“…What…?” he whispered in shocked
confusion.

“Come over,” I repeated and he laughed
softly.

“I’ll be over in a minute,” he decided,
saying goodbye before we both hung up.

I looked up at the tree line when I heard
the faintest growl, still not scared, but then my phone chimed and
I looked down to find a text message from Jack with only a ten
digit number. I clicked on the number, and chose the option of a
text message.

Hi, Rayne. Hopefully this is the right
number… This is Anna. I just wanted to say thanks for everything at
the party last night.

I clicked send and held my breath. I had
convinced myself I would hear a text message chime from the woods,
or at least the vibrating of a phone, but I didn’t. I was just
settling back into my chair when Jack walked around the side of the
house and over to me.

“I came over,” he announced and I bolted
upright in my seat again, looking at the house and then at him
curiously. That brief panic was in his eyes again, like it had been
the night of the bonfire. “Nobody answered the door, so I took a
guess you were back here,” he chuckled, “If you hadn’t been, you
probably would have thought I was a stalker or something walking
around your house… maybe not my best idea ever.”

He was crouched on the ground beside me and
I inspected his pale blonde hair and emerald eyes curiously while
he watched me.

“How did you even know where I live?” I
finally asked and he laughed again.

“I know where your dad lives because I’ve
been over before,” he answered with a grin. He wasn’t lying so
completely that I could call him out on it, and I stood up
instead.

“I’ll go get you a chair,” I offered, but he
only laughed and fell to sit cross-legged on the grass, “Or you can
sit on the ground….”

“So Alex wanted me to ask you when your
birthday is,” Jack remarked after I had sat back down on my lounge
chair facing him.

“August 19
^th
,” I answered with a
lifted eyebrow as he frowned.

“That’s right after school starts! That
sucks! Seriously… school starts Monday the 17
^th
, so your
birthday is on a Wednesday this year?” he reasoned while I looked
at him in confusion and barely nodded, “That just isn’t
right….”

“Why?” I pressed and he jerked his head back
to face me and smiled.

“Alex wanted to throw you a birthday party
at the house. But not only is that after school starts, but it’s a
school night… so should we do the weekend before or the weekend
after?” Jack continued while I watched him curiously.

“
The
house?” I wondered, watching
that brief panic in his eyes again, “And probably the weekend
before since we’ll have homework the weekend after.”

“Weekend before works,” he agreed, but I
kept watching him and he laughed, “Our parents travel a lot on
business, so we stay over at Alex’s house a lot and it just became
the
house, I guess.”

“His parents travel?” I wondered and Jack
barely shook his head.

“They actually moved to Germany when Alex
turned 18 and graduated,” Jack explained but I looked at him with
even more confusion, “You didn’t know Alex had graduated… did
you?”

“I had no idea,” I mumbled thoughtfully.
So Alex was the same age as Austin? Weird….
“How old are
you?”

“Seventeen,” Jack answered with a shrug,
“But my birthday’s in July, so… I just graduated, too.”

School was starting to sound better and
better. No Austin, no Alex … “How old is Rayne?” I suddenly
questioned and Jack chewed on his lip for a second.

“Well… he’s eighteen, but... he’ll be a
senior this year,” Jack hesitantly replied, “Speaking of, did you
get my text?” I nodded and he smiled faintly. “He’ll be glad to
hear from you; he thinks you’re cool.”