Burning Hearts (4 page)

Jenna’s dad (who always made sure his blond
hair was styled neatly, even though the dead didn’t care what he
looked like) sat at the head of the table, enjoying seconds.

After taking his last bite, he turned to Pru
with a gentle smile. “How’re your parents doing?”

“
They’re okay,” she replied
briefly.

Pru’s parents had recently gotten a divorce.
It was all the town of Oasis could talk about for two weeks until
it was replaced with other gossip. Pru lived with her mom, while
her dad was in Phoenix for his new job. She visited him every other
weekend.

Jenna was sure Pru was being cryptic for a
reason. Her parents were most likely not okay, but Pru didn’t say
much or anything about her home life. Jenna often felt bad for
inviting her over, witnessing how well Jacob and Rachel Love got
along. It was evident to everyone in town that the high school
sweethearts were soul mates. They never argued and worked great
together in the family business of burying and cremating dead
people. Jenna didn’t consider it to be a macabre life. Everyone
dies. Someone has to take care of the bodies.

She had no problem working at Love’s Funeral
Home and Crematorium once she graduated high school, but her
parents insisted on college. She had no idea what she wanted to do
in life, but was assured by teachers and guidance counselors that
she’d discover that once she entered, finding inspiration in the
liberal arts curriculum. Jenna would prefer to just burn people.
Besides, she was daydreaming about it. Maybe fate was speaking to
her.

“
Must be going,” Mrs. Sharpe
not-so-delicately announced.

Riddick let his fork fall
with a clang! on the half-eaten plate of lasagna. “Wouldn’t wanna
miss her show:
Silicone
Stepmothers
.”

He said it low enough for those only at the
table to hear. Jenna’s dad stifled a laugh.

Jenna patted Riddick on his arm to console
him. He winced in pain. “Oh, sorry,” she apologized. “Lemme
see.”

Riddick wouldn’t let her. “It’s fine. I’m
okay.” He smiled. “See you tomorrow at school.”

Jenna shook her head. “Nah, think I’m gonna
skip the whole day.”

“
Yeah, right,” said her dad,
smiling.

Jenna sighed. “Of course, I’ll be there. It’s
not like I have nothing better to do.”

Everyone said their goodbyes with Mrs. Sharpe
being the quickest about it, but Jenna pulled Pru back while the
others walked outside. “Hey, Pru, can I ask you something?”

Pru smiled. “You just did.”

“
Yeah, yeah, but um, well,
does Riddick have a crush on me?”

Pru fell characteristically silent.

“
C’mon. You can talk.” Jenna
gave her an encouraging smile. “You’ve done it before. I know you
can.”

Pru unsealed her red lips. “I’m not getting
involved.”

“
That means ‘yes,’
right?”

“
Hypothetically, if he did,
how would you feel?”

“
I dunno. He’s not ugly or
anything, but he’s my friend and well, I dunno if we’d work well
together.”

Pru chuckled. “You’re not trying to run a
corporation. It’s high school hookup—these things never really
last. Especially if you’re gonna go to college after graduation.
Riddick plans on moving to Houston to be with his mom and having
his step dad set him up with a job at his car dealership.”

Now Jenna chuckled. “I can’t imagine Riddick
selling cars.”

“
No, he’d be in the auto
shop, a mechanic.”

Jenna furrowed her brow. “He knows how to
work on cars?”

Pru nodded. “Pretty good too. He fixed up his
step mom’s car…well, that was before she arrived. It was supposed
to be his, but…”

“
Along came
Polly.”

“
Yep.”

Right on cue, Mrs. Sharpe honked the horn,
urging to flee.

“
Well, I’ll let you
go.”

Pru went to leave, but then stopped, and
turned back to Jenna. “Deep down, Riddick’s really a sensitive
person. If you two didn’t work out, it would break his heart. I’m
not gonna tell you what to do, but maybe it’d be best if you just
stayed friends. And you’re just coming off a bad break with
Val.”

“
It’s been three months,”
Jenna reminded her rather crossly.

“
Still,” said Pru, taking no
offense. “I’ve seen the way you look at him.”

Jenna folded her arms over her chest,
defensive. “I don’t look at him. He’s a jackass.”

“
A jackass who was your
first love.”

Jenna shook her head and unfolded her arms,
letting them hang limp by her sides. “If I’d given him what he’d
wanted, we would’ve never broken up, but then I’d never be friends
with y’all and truly,”—she smiled—“I’d rather have that.”

Pru gave her a hug. Jenna tugged gently on a
few strands of her black hair, just like Riddick’s; but instead of
his falling sharply down, it stuck up in the middle like he’d been
electrocuted.

“
He’s really a good guy,”
Jenna said. “But I dunno if I’m ready to be back in a
relationship.”

Mrs. Sharpe honked the horn twice.

Jenna sighed. “You’d better go before she
breaks a fake nail. Nice talking to you.” She smiled. “You should
do it more often.”

“
I prefer to listen than
speak.” Pru winked. “I’m a spy-in-training.”

“
I knew it! That’s not your
real hair, is it?” Jenna tugged on her black bob again. It didn’t
come off. “No, it’s real. If you were wearing a mustache, I
could’ve ripped that off.”

Pru smiled. “Now there’s an idea. I should go
to school wearing a mustache.”

Jenna nodded in agreement. “Yeah, no one
would make fun of you then.”

Jenna’s parents reentered the house. Her dad
approached Pru with a gentle but urgent smile. “Polly’s about to
have a fit in that car. And I think Riddick’s about to commit
murder.”

Pru said her goodbyes and left. Jenna watched
Mrs. Sharpe drive away with Riddick looking sullen in the backseat,
and Pru playfully pushing his face, trying to cheer him up. It
didn’t work and Pru gave up.

It was late and Jenna decided to go to bed.
But just as she was settling under the covers, she noticed the
silver lock on top of the chest.

Now she was wide awake—bitten by the
curiosity bug.

She padded to the end of the bed and got down
on her knees before the one thing Simon Love had left her after his
death. She always knew he had it—placed in a corner of his room at
his old house that her parents eventually sold to a newlywed couple
looking to get away from Los Angeles.

Grandpa Simon was a bit of a recluse, but he
was never rude to people. He just preferred to be alone ever since
his wife, Dottie, had died on Christmas day, three years ago. After
his burial—Simon Love didn’t want to be cremated—Jenna received the
chest but couldn’t open it. The lock was so thick and strong, her
dad was afraid that he’d destroy all his tools just to open it. It
was decided to leave it alone, that perhaps nothing of great
importance was inside because it was so light in weight.

Well, now the lock was off—mysteriously
opened—all by itself.

She couldn’t help but to connect the events.
Three times that day she had visions of stabbing people in their
hearts. They’d caught fire, and then turned into piles of ashes.
The first vision that morning had been horrific and sickening; she
vomited. But the next two were not that vomit-inducing; it was as
if she were doing something good. She was protecting the world from
the baddies with strange fiery eyes. But how could murder be
condoned? And why’d her victims catch fire with only a stab from a
small knife? The grandfather clock in the living room chimed loud,
announcing it was midnight. Jenna settled herself before the chest
and opened the lid. She picked up the first item, confused.

“
A white tunic?” she
wondered aloud.

She proceeded to remove a
pile of clothes that one would wear out of a scene from
Lawrence of Arabia
until
she found three strange heirlooms. One was a small book; its spine
was cracked and the black leather cover was peeling, but the pages
were blank. The second item was a piece of jewelry, a necklace. A
bronze chain held a pendant of the same metal, engraved with a
black cursive script that resembled an ancient language.

She placed both items on the floor, for the
third item was the heirloom that made her shiver. After controlling
her shaky hands, she carefully removed the brown leather sheath.
The knife was the same one in her visions. It had a polished cedar
hilt with a curved bronze blade. It didn’t look dull, but new as if
forged only hours ago. She studied the black cursive script that
was engraved from the top of the hilt to the tip of the blade; it
was still all nonsense. But she didn’t need a translator to know
what a knife could do.

She stood up and held the
weapon, poised to strike. There was only one word to describe how
she felt:
awakened
. A surge of strength took hold of her.

Destiny called. And she answered. She was
meant to wield this knife. She was meant to kill.

So much for college.

THE NEW GUY

She didn’t mean to destroy her alarm clock,
but that’s exactly what happened when she hit the snooze button the
next morning. The guts of the machine went flying and landed on the
rosy-carpeted floor.

She passed it off as a weird occurrence and
went to take a shower, but got covered in soap when she squeezed
the bottle, causing rose-scented ooze to explode like a liquid
bomb. She gave herself a quick wash, hoping not to destroy the only
bathroom in the house.

Everything was fine until breakfast when she
bent a spoon in half. After three more tries, she was finally able
to finish her cereal. Thankfully her parents were gone, already at
the funeral home; so they didn’t see her dispose of the evidence of
her mutant strength in a bag with the rest of the garbage and haul
it outside to be picked up by the city.

When the bus arrived, she carefully stepped
on, walking slowly to join Pru and Riddick, seated together and
smiling at her. Riddick pressed Pru to snug closer to the window so
Jenna could have room; but being cautious and with no desire to
bend her friends in half, she took the seat opposite them,
alone.

“
What’s wrong?” asked
Riddick, looking concerned as he leaned toward her.

Jenna had to lie. “Feeling sick. Vomity.” She
raised a hand in front of her mouth like she was going to spew.
“Don’t wanna get it on y’all.”

Riddick slyly moved away from her, pressing
against Pru. “Oh, sorry. Hope you get better. What’d you eat? We
all had the same thing last night and I’m fine.” He turned to Pru.
“You okay?”

Pru nodded.

Jenna shrugged. “Maybe something’s going
around. I could’ve caught it anywhere.”

“
Are you sure you don’t
wanna stay home?” asked Riddick.

Jenna managed a smile and shook her head.
“No, I’ll be fine. It’ll pass.”

But she had a feeling it wouldn’t. The
murderous visions. The super strength. The strange heirlooms. They
were all adding up to something; she just didn’t know what.

When they exited the bus at school, Jenna
hurried off, away from Pru and especially Riddick—who was trying to
keep pace at her side, despite the false belief that she was a puke
machine. Jenna made it to first period chemistry with Mrs. Lara
Quinn. They were set to continue their discussion on mole ratios
that were to Jenna, the easiest things in the world; so she knew
she could phase out to concentrate on trying not to break
anything—or anyone.

Most of the class was already there.
Unfortunately, four of the Stuck-Ups—Daniela, Emma, Barrie, and
Aidan—were there, but seemed to be more interested in kissing than
thinking up of ways to taunt Jenna. Daniela was sucking face with
Barrie like they were in her bedroom and not an institution of
supposed learning. Jenna felt like she might just vomit.

She rushed over to the lab table she shared
with Kylie; she dropped her backpack on the floor and rested her
head against the black surface where frogs were dissected for Mrs.
Quinn’s last period junior biology class. She hoped that it’d been
wiped down yesterday, because she really didn’t want to puke in
front of everyone—although it would back up her false claims. Karma
would turn her lie into a gross truth.

“
Uh-oh, what’s wrong?” asked
Kylie, wearing a cheerful pink headband on her wavy brown
hair.

“
Don’t feel
good.”

Kylie wrinkled her nose. “Not vomity?”

Jenna just nodded.

“
I love you but please not
on me. Why aren’t you at home?”

“
It’ll pass.”

She hated lying to her friends, but it was
the best excuse for keeping her distance. She didn’t want to hurt
her friends or damage any of the school property—as much as the old
building needed to be remodeled.

Mrs. Quinn, wearing her trademark flowery
skirt, walked in and instantly told the lovers to separate. Daniela
slid off Barrie’s lap and sat next to Emma at their table.
Fortunately, all four of the Stuck-Ups were across the room so
Jenna didn’t have to look at them. She wished she could plug up her
ears too, but teachers had this annoying habit of wanting students
to pay attention to them.

The lecture on mole ratios began and everyone
opened their books and past lecture notes. Jenna followed suit but
had no desire to pay attention. She had to work on not crushing her
book. The pages threatened to tear, but she handled each with care
and nothing was destroyed. The pen in her hand felt malleable but
stayed intact.