Dark Seraphine (The Seraphine Trilogy) (22 page)

“
Touchy touchy. Do you pick your nose with that finger? Anyways, you two need to catch up o
n
ummm…
things
. I won’t get in the way. I’ll just show myself to the door,
”
Kyle teased and headed toward the front door.
“
Catch ya at school tomorrow
,
Caleb.
”
He blew a few more kisses just before he walked out of the door
,
leaving me to deal with Erica.

“
So
,
I heard that the Razors are missing too
,”
she began. Why did I know her first statement would involve Gia?

“
Yeah
,
they
’
re probably out celebrating
,”
I tried to sound sure of myself.

Erica
studied me for the longest time almost as if she knew I
was
hiding something.
“
What?
”
She made me nervous by looking at me that way.

Moving over to the couch
,
she sat down and folded her hands on her lap.
“
Do you think I
’
m pretty?
”
 
Oh crap. She
’
s in one of those moods
again
.
 

“
Sure
,
I do. Want something to drink?
”

“
I
’
ve been thinking
. You
don
’
t
have to
take me to the
All Souls
Dance
. I know you don
’
t really want to
,”
she said
,
her eyes glued to her folded hands.

This was an Erica test. I recognized it from a mile away. I moved over to the couch and sat down beside her.
“
I always keep my word. I don
’
t play games. Well
,
not head games
,
anyway. Besides
,
I already bought my
costume.
It came complete with genuine Japanese
head gear.” I
gave her a nod of confidence
, and she smiled wide.

“
That
’
s great
,
Caleb!
”
Excellent
,” she said in an
excited
voice
.
“
But there
’
s one more thing
,”
she began. I cringed inside.
“
Why don
’
t you ever try to kiss me? Most guys would want to… you know. I mean
,
there
’
s this big empty house. No parents around. We
’
ve been together almost two months. I just thought
,
well
,
that you
’
d want to get closer by now.
”
She inched toward my side of the couch. I was so not prepared to deal with this.

Easing her hands on either side of
my shoulders
,
she turned me to face her.
“
Is it Thorne you
’
re worried about? You shouldn
’
t be. He
’
s moved on with Gia. And you know what? I admire her. She has
my ex-boyfriend
wrapped up like a pinky ring
,
and Raze waiting in the wings. She has her hands full
,
huh?
”

“
Yeah
,
she does
,”
I answered truthfully
,
a pang of jealousy and confusion warring inside my chest. Why should I sit around pining for a girl who made it clear she didn
’
t want to be
mine?
She told me to move on with the normal girl
,
the one sitting here beside me looking gorgeous in her goddess top and
skinny
jeans.

A smile crept across Erica
’
s face.
I didn
’
t turn away when she placed her lips on mine. This time I kissed her back. In response she pushed me down on the couch and deepened our kiss. I put my hands in her hair
,
the safest part of her body for me to touch.
How far are you going to let this go
,
my man?

Her kiss was different from Gia
’
s in a way I couldn
’
t finger. It made me feel kind of like I drifted inside a dark room with no windows and a door that won
’
t open.
Strange.
Still
,
I didn
’
t pull away.

“
Caleb
,
honey
,
I bought those new yoga mats I told you about from Half-Moon Wellness. I need you to…
”
It was Mom to the rescue.
“
Oh
,
okay.
”
Standing in the front doorway
,
she held back a smile. Erica and I pulled apart right away. I straightened up my shirt while Erica
fooled around with
her hair.

“
Hi
,
Mrs. Wood
,”
Erica beamed. If she cut me up into a thousand pieces then my mom would still be standing there smiling at her. She was
an
Erica-going-out-with-
Caleb fan.

“
Hello kids
,”
she said smugly as she worked to hold back a grin.

I stood up and placed a finger on my lips.
“
Not one word
,”
I mouthed as I walked by
my mom
and headed outside to get her yoga mats. This time I felt grateful for her interruption.

* * *

On Monday a somber mood drifted over the
city
. I didn
’
t realize how much damage the Isle of New Bern suffered until I drove to school
that morning.
Everything was a mess
:
trees scattered
,
rooftops damaged
,
stoplights broken. Jillian and
Corey
were still missing
,
and a gang of others got hurt
in the
flying debris. The rumor mill buzzed with talk of Gia running off with Raze.

None of it made any sense.

During
the last week of
defense class
,
I took out my anger
,
yet again
,
on one of the students who purposefully slammed against my bad arm.

“
What
’
s the matter
,
Caleb? Did getting kicked off of the lacrosse team muck
with
your moves?
”
the greasy haired guy said. I couldn
’
t place his name or where I
’
d last seen him. It was bad enough the class I taught had been extended by a couple of weeks. Now I had to put up with tack heads too?

“
Don
’
t even go there
,
my man
,”
I warned.

“
My man? What are you, eight-years-old
? Did you get knocked in the head on Friday night? Or did you run into a wall?
”
he teased. Collective laughter waved across the rest of the class. That did it. I pinned him to the floor without much effort at all
and
wrenched his arm behind his back a bit harder than I should have. The bones popped the more I deepened the lunge as he cried out.

“
What
’s this
? You
don’t wanna talk anymore smack?
I can
’
t hear y
ou crying out like a girl
,”
I
said
in his ear.

Someone yanked on my shirt.
“
Caleb! Stop it
,”
Erica pulled me off of the boy. The rest of the class went silent. He stood up and glared at me.
“
You got issues
,
man.
”

I turned around and trudged toward the exit. Over the past few weeks I realized two things:
1)
I had developed this super human strength and
2)
I was in love with a girl who ran off and left me for another guy
, or guys depending on how you wanted to look at the situation
.
Things for me had
moved way past bad
issues
. I was desperate.

Outside the building
,
I trudged about halfway to the parking lot when the hairs on the back of my neck rose. I turned around and spotted them
,
the
Dark Agent
s
,
standing in various areas: across the street
,
beside the gym
,
between the trees—the dude
s dressed in black returned. The last couple of times these guys showed up they either brought dead fish or tornados.

The tallest one waved in my direction and smiled. My muscles tensed.
It was the creepy Agent from the skateboard competition, the one that spoke to me just before Paige tried to rip all of my hair out
. But Gia took her out. I saw her dissolve into little pieces of lightning.
             
Why was this guy still hanging around?

Footsteps tapped behind me.
“
Caleb
,
have you calmed down
now
?
”
Erica asked
,
easing her arms around my waist. I kept my gaze focused on the
Dark Agent
s standing around us.

“
I
’
m good.
”

“
Everybody
’
s heading out to join the search party. Are you still coming with me?
”
she asked.

“
I
’
m sorry. I need some time alone
,”
I answered.
“
Do you need a ride
to the park
?”

“
Yeah
,
sure.
”
She sounded disappointed. 

I glanced around the area. About ten of the
Dark Agent
s watched us. If anybody knew what happened to the missing kids then
they would be the guys to question
.

* * *

I swear that Paige put some kind of violence mojo spell on me. That had to be the cause of my obsession with all things brutal these days.
Yeah right.
She
’
s dead. So that means y
ou
’
re
probably
losing it
,
my man.
I needed a break
,
a distraction. Violence was most definitely not the key this time.

The
Dark Agent
s showed up all over the place since
J
illian and
Corey
went missing. No
ne of them
approached or said anything to me the way the first one did that night on the beach. They just stood around
,
staring
and freaking me out. I used to think they were ghosts. Sometimes little kids visited me. Other times teenagers
drifted through
. No adults came
,
and these wandering spirits never said a word to me. That was up until a couple months ago when Gia Jones and the Razors walked into my life.