Dark Seraphine (The Seraphine Trilogy) (21 page)

“
Where are you going?
”
Erica asked.

“
To grab some drinks for us.
”

“
You need some help with that?”
Erica started to stand up.

“
Nah.
I got this
,
okay? Relax
,”
I assured her and walked off before she protested.

I spotted one of the
Dark Agent
s heading down toward the
beach
outside the gates surrounding the park. I strutted through the exit
,
past the parking lot
,
and stopped where the
shores
began just outside of it.

“
Where
’
d they go?
”
I wondered aloud.

“
Caleb Wood is it not?
”
a creepy deep voice said behind me. I spun around. The sight before me took my breath away. One of the tallest
Dark Agent
s stood in front of me.
My face reflected in the black sunglasses he wore, and his
skin was pale enough to make
snow look dingy. “Are you Caleb Wood?” he urged.

“
Maybe. What
’
s it to you?
”
I answered
. A
chill
crept
through me.

“
You
’
ve been a naughty boy.
”
His
bland
voice echoed on the last few syllables. I found myself thinking
that
I was way too bold
coming
out here by myself. I started to back away. With the sun lowering in the sky and the main event
finishing up
overhead
,
these guys could rip me apart and toss my body parts into the sea without anyone knowing the difference.

“
You seem like a lot fun
,
my man
,
but I gotta get back
,”
I said just before something tangled in the longer hair on top of my head. Whatever it was jerked
my head back
until my eyes watered.

“
Hello
,
Love
,”
a familiar
,
but annoying voice muttered in my ear.

“
Paige. Why don
’
t you try what other girls do first?
”

“
What’s
that?
”
she
said
in my ear.

“
Try asking
for my phone number. That works much better than abusing me
,”
I gasped. She tightened her grip on my hair and jerked my head back even more.

Do you have a death wish
,
Wood?

Moving around to hit her was out of the question. I was stuck in that paralyzed mode again. The
Dark Agent
s
started slinking back into the shadows
,
leaving only the ocean
’
s waters
crashing a
gainst the
shore
. If I ever had my doubts about the guys dressed in black before
,
I now completely understood their true purpose. They somehow worked for Paige.

“
By now I kind of figured your memories would
’
ve returned. It
’
s too bad for you that they
have not
. You being alive is a serious threat to my kind.
”

“
Hey
,
I don
’
t even know what you are. At this point
,
I don
’
t think that I ever want to know
,”
I said truthfully.

“
Too bad
,
l
over. We would
’
ve been so good together
,”
she said and slid her
free hand
underneath my shirt. Ice cold fingers that felt like death
,
worked their way up to the area over my heart
,
paralyzing
and
freezing me to the core of my existence.
Each breath I inhaled caught in my throat. It was kind of like I was drowning, but without the water this time.

The chill
y choking
didn
’
t last
, though
.
For some reason, Paige released me.
I slammed into the ground, my face kissing the sand
. Spitting it out
,
I rolled over. The fireworks show from hell lit up around me. Only it wasn
’
t
really sparklers
, though.
Gia and Paige
were fighting
each other with lightning bolts:
powdery
blue for Gia and bright gold for Paige.

What the freak?

“
You can
’
t keep running to save him every single time
,
Princess Gia
,”
Paige spat. The two girls circled each other.

“
So nice of you to recognize my rightful ti
tle, Paige. It will make it easier on you when I inherit the throne as your queen
,”
Gia blurted.

“
I
’
ll rot before I see that happen
,”
Paige
snappe
d.
“The dark queen will rise, instead. She’s growing stronger every day. What do you think about that?”

“
You’re so overdramatic
.
”
On that note
,
the two girls charged one another.

Gia was small, and Paige was the fiery redhead from hell. I worried that sparks were going to fly and Gia was about to fall.
I tried to stand and wound up with my face back in the sand. Talk about being humiliated to the core. What guy couldn
’
t protect the girl he loves?

It turned out that Gia didn
’
t need my help. A few bolts of blue lightning zipped around my face
,
and a scream trilled through the air. When the mini firework show stopped
,
Gia stood with her fists clenched
,
a strange green glow fading inside them. Paige was nowhere to be found.

Rushing over to my side
,
she took my head in her lap and placed her hand across my forehead.
“
You
’
re burning up
,
Wave R
ider
,”
she said
,
trying to
smile through the
worry in her
face
.

“
Since when did the distressed damsel start saving the knight all the time?
”
I asked
,
feeling myself wave in and out of consciousness. The wind roared around us
,
a strange
gust
that smelled like rotten eggs.

“
Come on
,
get with the times. Girls don
’
t wait around to have our doors opened anymore. Sometimes we
’
ll shove you through it first.
”
She gave me a beautiful
,
but worried smile. My eyelids were so heavy.

“
Who are you
,
Princess Gia Jones?
”
I heard a weak voice ask. It was mine.

She bent down to my ear and brushed her lips against it. Although my body was weak and losing touch on reality
,
certain parts of it still tingled back to life.
“
So you caught that little tidbit
,
huh? I
’
m your guardian angel
,
remember?
”

“
Guardians don
’
t leave
—
they won
’
t come…
”
I sighed. It was getting harder to speak. Kind of like my tongue was made out of lead.

“
No more talking
,
Caleb. This
G
uardian
is here to stay. I promise.
”

Were those her lips I felt brushing across mine?
Light. Tender. Unsure
. It didn
’
t matter. She told me what I wanted to hear. My imagination was my own stomping ground; it belonged to me. If I wanted to believe that she kissed me
,
then so be it. In the distance
,
thunder rumbled through the sky. The boom shook the area around us.

I closed my eyes and fell asleep
with my head cradled
in her
lap
.

Chapter Twelve

“Man, you suck. So tell me. How did you get sick on one of the craziest nights that ever happened in this place?” Kyle asked. He sat at my computer desk and filled me in on last night’s events, making wild gestures with his hands. I was in for one hell of a story. After what I went through on the beach, I wasn’t the least bit surprised.

“You should’ve seen how people reacted to Gia’s
victory speech
.
Girls were
teary-eyed and got
all kissy-
kissy with their dudes.
Damn, I can’t believe you missed it
. I felt like
a happy disease or something
swept
across the city
and
infected
everybody in the park
. Shani even made friends with your girl
,
Erica.
”
Kyle hesitated and scratched around the base of his neck. He was about to change something.
“
Things got odd after all that,
though. You weren
’
t the only one who disappeared last night. Seems our little skateboard
starlet
cut out on Mr. Thorn
e
Gorilla-
Hands
Wiggins.
”

That statement jolted me wide awake. I sat up in my bed and ran a hand through my hair. Glancing around the room
,
I checked for concrete signs of my paranoia.

I mean
,
I
’
m pretty sure I saw Gia zap the crap out of Paige last night. I also know that I spoke to one of the
Dark Agent
s. Dude came complete with
a
creepy alien sounding voice
,
and everything. If I were younger
,
I
’
d probably have nightmares all week. That part still drifted pretty clearly in my mind; but
it also meant
the last part was true—
that Gia really did tell
Raze to take
me home after I passed out like a dud. I drifted in and out of consciousness
;
but I clearly remember being
carried
away from the beach. If anybody ever
found
out about that then my name will win the top spot on Ashley George High School
’
s wimp pages.

What
about the part where Paige called her Princess Gia? At some point I entered a fairy tale complete with weird dudes
that walk
in the shadows
,
red-headed demon chicks
,
and a princess
who
kept on saving
the
knight
’
s ass.

“
So
,
uh
,
what
’
s up with the Razors?
”
I asked trying not to sound too desperate.

Kyle made this weak laugh and frowned. The side of his face turned up and he started blinking a lot.
“
I take it you didn
’
t hear about the tornado? Seeing that you slept all day long
,
I guess it
’
s easy to see
how
you
’
re
so outta
the loop.
”

“
Tornado?
”
I asked
,
my chest tightening up.
“
What are you talking about? We don
’
t get those out here.
”
Hurricanes
,
yeah. T
wisters
—
uh
,
nope. I honestly thought Mom was joking when she mentioned
it
yesterday.

“
Come on
,
Caleb
,
get with it. The
storm
that hit right after you went
missing
on us.
I’m talking about t
he
one that collapsed the pier behind the skate park.
Come down out of the
clouds
, bro
.
”
Kyle waved his hands in front of my face.
“
And dig this
,
there
are
still a couple of kids missing
: Jillian
and
one of
our
teammates, Corey Haines
. People were going crazy
,
busting through the gates and everything. Man
,
you should
’
ve seen it! It was like the wicked witch from that old Oz movie cast a bad day spell over
the skate park
. And she killed every bit of that happiness I just told you about, too.
Everybody got really crazy after we heard that Gia
’
s crew disappeared.
”

Unf!
An invisible fist knocked the air straight out of me.
“
What? Gia
’
s missing?
I thought you just said she cut out on our boxing champ?
”

“
People think she might
’
ve run off with that Raze guy. Man
,
you should
’
ve seen Thorne. He was thumping mad.
”

“
That
’
s bull!
”
I spat before I could stop myself.

Kyle held up his hands
,
and said
,
“
Alright
. Chill
,
dude. It
’
s better than thinking she went down with the pier
,
right?
”

“
Get on with the story
,”
I urged
,
my body heat rising. He just told me that Gia was
gone
.
Suddenly
,
the world as I knew it didn
’
t seem right anymore.
Wait.
That wasn’t how Kyle described it. He said she ran off with Raze, the giraffe, more competit
i
on for me.
This
wild feeling
entered
my body
,
and my head felt
kind of
funny.

“
Seriously
,
Caleb
,
since when did you become such a Gia Jones fan? Don
’
t let Erica find out. She spent most of the night looking for you
,
even after the pier collapsed.
Yeah, so, you going all ghost on
me and Shani
affected us
too
,
”
Kyle
scolded, a serious expression on his face.

“
Wait.
So did Erica bring me home
? How
’
d she do that without me remembering it?
”
A
nervous feeling
crept through me
, making me shiver
. Hearing this last tad of news didn
’
t make me feel any better than Kyle
’
s story about the collapsed pier.

“
Well
,
she didn
’
t. Turns out you got a ride. We called your mom. She found you napping in your bed. You
best
be glad I enjoy
borrowing
your zombie movie
s
,
brah
. Or w
e might not
still
be friends. You
scared
the crap out of me
when you disappeared
.
”

I fumbled with my thoughts. The ice spell or whatever Paige tried to use on me failed.
A
slight
ache
still surrounded that part of my chest.
I moved a hand up under my shirt and massaged the area.
“Gia can’t be lost,” I muttered without realizing Kyle could easily hear me.

“
What
’
s wrong with you? Do I need to call in the people with the white jackets?
”
Kyle teased.
“
Did you hit your head and
forget
which girl
you’re
dating?
”

I gave him an annoyed smirk. First
,
I didn
’
t ever recall telling people that Erica and I were officially dating. Second
,
Kyle
’
s news worried me.
“
I need to get out of here.
”

“
You better get your head together real quick. Erica
’
s downstairs waiting for you with open arms
.
”
H
e held back a smile.
Oh crap.
Considering the circumstances
,
I could probably wait to face Erica.

I got dressed in lightning fast time and headed downstairs
,
Kyle trailing close on my heels.

“
Oh
God
,
I could strangle you
,”
Erica said
,
rushing over to me and throwing her arms around my neck.
“
I thought you
might’ve drowned
.
”

“
I
’
m
alright
.
”
I pulled back,
patted my sides
, and then wiggled my fingers
.
“
See
,
I
’
m still all in one piece.
”

“
What
’
s going on with you
,
Caleb
,”
Erica asked.
“
You
just
l
eft
without saying anything.”

I didn
’
t want to lie to her. I couldn
’
t deny my feelings for Gia even if I tried.
“
I
’
m sorry. I was
trying to help a couple of kids find somebody
,”
I said. Not a complete lie
,
but still better than hurting her with the truth.

“
Shani
and I signed up to help look for Jillian
and
Corey
after school on Monday. She helped my squad out with our English papers. I hate to hear that something bad might
’
ve happened to her
,”
Erica said.

“
Yeah
,
me too
,”
I agreed
,
thoughts of Gia racing through my head. 

“
I’m
fine
,
Caleb. Watch yourself out there.
”
A voice spoke in my head. It was Gia
’
s.
“
Whoa!
”
I blurted. Both Kyle and Erica gave me puzzled looks.
“
I mean, whoa!
I need to hurry and sign up too
,”
I sighed
,
hoping my
enthusiasm kept
them from asking why I looked so crazy. Hearing Gia
’
s voice relieved a few of my worries
,
but not my fears.

“
That
’
s so sweet of you to volunteer
,”
Erica gushed and threw her arms around my neck again.

Behind her back
,
Kyle teased me by acting as though he was kissing an imaginary girl in front of him. I tapped my middle finger on Erica
’
s back and smirked.