Destiny (Vanish Book Four) (10 page)

“Is that all you know?”

“I know you killed that woman,” I spat.

“What woman?” he asked. Maybe I was wrong,
maybe he was good. Maybe this was all some huge misunderstanding
that would seem silly when all was cleared up. “I’m sorry; I lose
track. I’ve killed a lot of women, and men, too.”

He pressed his thumb harder into my throat,
and I coughed. I tried to break free of his grasp. I tried to think
of anything I could do to get away.

“Someone was with me; they’ll know it was you
who killed me.”

“Oh, I’m shaking,” he laughed hysterically.
“Do you really think I would kill my own daughter? No, you have a
place here with us; you just need to learn.”

“You want me to kill people with you? No
way.”

“That’s not all we do. That’s why you need to
learn.”

“What the hell are you talking about? If you
kill people, innocent people, then you’re sick.”

“They’re not all so innocent.”

His grip on my neck tightened. I used this to
my advantage; I let him hold me up. I took my feet off the ground
and kicked him in the stomach. We both fell to the ground, but
unlike him, I was able to get up and run away.

I ran as fast as I could through the tunnels.
When I finally got to the end, I grabbed the book and pushed the
door open. Once I made it out, I slammed the door shut and imagined
a giant boulder over top.

I leaned up against the boulder, and took a
deep breath. I got away. I didn’t need anyone there. I was fine
alone.

My dad was a creep; he was a sicko. I had
wanted to meet him for a long time, but it didn’t take that long to
get over something I never had.

I climbed up to the top of the rock and
looked up at the sky. A sharp pain tore through my chest as I
thought of all the times Dante and I had stared up at the
star-filled sky. All of the times we took in the beauty of the
moon. I wondered if right now, he might be staring up at the moon.
Miles away from each other and we could be staring in wonder at the
same time, at the same thing. It made me feel a little closer to
him than I actually was.

I sat there staring up at the moon,
hoping—for some insignificant reason, that meant nothing at
all—that for even one slight moment, Dante would look up and see
the moon and think of me. To know for only one second, this thing
tied us together. Then, I thought of all of the other people,
staring up at the moon. I thought of how they might be wishing the
same things as me, how they were probably thinking of someone
special, too.

I stayed there until the sun had risen. Then,
I decided to take a walk to Grace’s house. I hadn’t had a chance to
talk to her in the past few days. She probably didn’t even know
that Dante was gone.

She was home alone, as usual. Grace was good
at being alone, and she might have even liked it. That was one of
the many qualities I admired in her.

“Dante’s gone,” I said as she opened the
door. “He left; I’m supposed to be with someone else.”

“What? You guys were so perfect—”

“Yeah, I don’t know if we were perfect, but I
loved him. I do love him—”

“Wow Scarlett, you don’t sound too sure of
that,” she accused.

“No, it’s not that. It just seemed so easy
for him to leave.”

“Dante can act a lot tougher than he actually
is,” she pointed out.

“Do you want to go for a walk or
something?”

“Sure, I could use some fresh air,” she
said.

We walked down to the lake, sat on the dock,
and put our feet in the water. I needed someone to talk to, and
Grace was always best at making me feel better. Nothing could heal
these wounds, but Grace was a distraction, a painkiller; I just
hoped it wouldn’t wear off.

“I found my dad,” I blurted, needing
reassurance for another one of my problems.

“That’s great,” she started to say before she
saw the look on my face. “So what’s wrong?”

“He’s a murderer.”

“That’s awful. It would have been a lot worse
before all of this though. Murder isn’t that rare of an occurrence
anymore.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I just wish I had gotten
a chance to know him—without him being a murderer and all. Though I
can’t help but feel that I’m not too different.”

“Scarlett, you’re not a murderer. I mean, you
would never hurt anyone if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.”

“I guess,” I sighed. “So, how has everything
been for you lately?”

“Good, actually, I’ve been hanging out with
Jackson a lot lately.”

“So you like him?” I asked.

“Yes, he’s amazing. I’m really happy.”

“I’m happy for you,” I smiled. “Maybe we can
go get Rose, Annabelle, Lily, and Rachel and go for a hike or
something.”

“Actually, Jackson and I were supposed to
hang out soon….”

“Oh, it’s okay. Have fun.”

Grace left to go get ready. I walked over to
George and Elizabeth’s house. It couldn’t hurt to go see them and
try to get a little information out of them. I knew Skylar probably
felt uncomfortable sitting there with people he didn’t know.

I knocked on the door, and Skylar answered.
He laughed as he opened the door. It wasn’t directed at me but
something Elizabeth had said. It was like they were old
buddies.

“Hey,” I said as I looked at both of them.
“How’s it going?”

“Great, he is a very nice young man,”
Elizabeth commended.

“So is Dante,” I said a little too
defensively.

“That wasn’t what I meant Scarlett,”
Elizabeth replied.

“I know. I’m sorry; I’ve had a long day.”

“Sit down, I’ll get you some coffee,” she
offered, giving me a strange look.

She came back with coffee and sat down next
to me. She asked Skylar if we could talk alone for a minute.

“What did you want to talk about?” I asked as
I took a sip.

“You’ve had a long day? It’s eleven o’clock
in the morning, Scarlett. You didn’t go home last night, did
you?”

“I—”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I did go home, but then I left,” I
shrugged.

“You didn’t go back…
there
, did
you?”

“No.”
Not on purpose anyway.

“Alright,” she sighed.

She didn’t believe that I would let this go.
I wasn’t quite sure that I would ever purposely go back there, but
still I could promise nothing.

“Skylar,” I called. He came back into the
room. “Let’s go for a walk.”

When I looked at him, it was so painfully
obvious. I would never love him like I loved Dante. I could only
love him as a friend and if that could work, I would happily do so.
There was a small piece of me that cared for him in another way,
but I was starting to feel like that part just didn’t fit with the
rest of me. It didn’t belong.

“So, what do you want to do today?” he asked
as he put his arm around me. I shook it off; I would have jogged a
little bit ahead of him, but I was starting to feel weak again.

“Um, I don’t know, maybe we could….” I was
trying to think of somewhere that there would be evil people,
people who deserved to die, but I couldn’t think.

We had stumbled upon those boys in the woods
at random, and the Alliance was gone. I knew one place where I
could without a doubt find someone evil, but I wasn’t sure I could
kill my own sisters, my father.

“Well?”

“I’m feeling weak; I need to find someone to
kill, and your dad is a cop….”

“Yeah, but I told you I never see him,
he—”

“I just need to find a murderer or someone
who has done something—”

“Okay…” he said looking down, deep in
thought. “Okay, I got it! You can turn invisible right?” I nodded.
“Well, maybe you can help me turn invisible, and I can sneak into
the police station, listen to their radio or something.”

“We can try,” I smiled.

“Alright, let’s go,” he said.

We parked around the block from the police
station. I was a little nervous, not about Skylar sneaking into the
police station, but seeing if my powers would work for him.

We faced each other, and he gave me his
hands. We sat there for a minute; I closed my eyes, concentrating,
but all I could think about was Dante.

When I opened my eyes, Skylar was still
sitting there with his closed. Neither of us had gone invisible,
but Skylar’s hair was about three shades darker. When he opened his
eyes, my heart skipped a beat. His eyes weren’t green but dark
brown. It wasn’t Dante, but I wanted to pretend he was, even though
it would do no good. His eyes held the same power over me as
Dante’s.

He had no idea anything had changed, but his
dark-brown hair was swept across his forehead. His eyebrows
furrowed with confusion and a seriousness I had never seen Skylar
possess. He let go of my hands, and they hit the console with a
thud.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he
asked.

“Like what?” I asked innocently.

“Like you are, you’ve never looked at me like
that before.”

“Give me your hands back,” I demanded.

I imagined him going back to normal, and then
I tried to concentrate. I sat there holding his hands, trying to
keep Dante off my mind, but after I had that slight glimpse of him,
it was almost impossible.

Finally, I was invisible. I opened my eyes
and Skylar, too, had disappeared. I could see a slight outline of
him. He looked down at himself, and then got out of the car.

“I’ll be right back okay?” he said.

“Alright,” I answered.

I waited in the car for at least a half an
hour. Skylar had to of been trying his best, but I wasn’t quite
sure what to expect when he returned. When I saw his outline and a
couple of floating files, I reached over and started the car.

“Hey, how did it go?” I wondered.

“Good, good…” he sighed. “Look over these,
and then decide where you want to go.”

I grabbed the papers and flipped through
them. They were all men, all accused of horrible crimes, but the
main thing that connected them, the main thing that made this all
worthless—they were all proved innocent.

“Skylar!” I snapped. “All of these men were
let go.”

“Well, yeah. I mean, do you want me to take
you to a prison or something?”

I grabbed his hand and we both became
visible. We drove past two abandoned buildings, and I suddenly had
a horrible feeling. It was deep down; it was hard to prove that
anything at all was wrong. Then, from the back of the buildings, I
heard a woman scream.

“I’ll be right back,” I called behind me as I
got out of the car and ran toward the scream.

I ran to the back of the building. There was
a man pushing a woman up against a brick wall. He had a knife to
her throat. She looked like she had accepted what was happening
around her. She had accepted she was going to die—until she saw
me.

I stood there, calculating my next move with
precision. There was a rusty metal pipe sitting on the ground a few
feet away. The man had no idea that I was behind him, so I used
that to my advantage and grabbed it. I ran back over and swung the
pipe. It hit him on the side of the head, catching him off guard
and knocking him to the ground. It didn’t keep him down though; he
jumped right back up and smiled.

I got ready to hit him again, when he started
running at me. I swung, but this time, he saw it coming, caught it
in his hands, and ripped it from mine. Then, instead of using the
weapon for himself, he threw it on the ground.

He lifted up his knife, taunting me, showing
me how he planned to kill me. I wasn’t ready to give up yet though.
I held out my hand and imagined a knife twice the size of his.
Then, I looked back up to his face and smiled the most evil smile
that I could. He looked frightened, but that didn’t stop him from
lunging at me. I fell to the ground, and when I did, I could see
the woman sitting there staring, looking horrified.

“Run,” I yelled.

She listened and took off. It didn’t look
like she was hurt, but I couldn’t be sure.

Soon, he was on my side, holding me down with
his free arm across my chest. His other arm was above me, knife in
hand, waiting to strike. I used my free hand to grab his wrist, but
still the knife inched closer. I was using all of my strength,
trying to keep his knife away; I couldn’t even try to use mine own.
I closed my eyes, imagining myself gaining some strength; I pushed
up harder. I felt the weight of him lessen, and soon I moved his
arm up, just enough that the other arm came off my chest the
tiniest bit. I moved over and let his knife crash into the cement.
The blade was bent, and his knife was now useless. He looked over
at me with a fear in his eyes that I’d never seen.
He was afraid
of…me.

I smiled and got up; I quickly moved behind
him and put the knife to his throat.

“Before I do this, please just tell me
why.”

“Why should I? You’re going to kill me
anyway, so just get it over with.”

“Just tell me,” I demanded as I pushed the
knife into his skin.

“Because I wanted to, plain and simple. You
wouldn’t understand.”

“No, I wouldn’t,” I mumbled as I stuck the
knife in his chest.

I closed my eyes and felt the strength
flowing through me. It wasn’t like when I’d just imagined it, then
I didn’t really feel stronger; I just was.

I sat there and looked around. I needed to
hide the body; I just didn’t know where. In the woods, things were
much simpler, you just bury it. In the Alliance neighborhood, who
cared? No one in there would be shocked by a dead body.

I thought about what the man said, he killed
people only because he ‘wanted to.’ I couldn’t relate to that. I
never really wanted to; it was survival, or helping someone, or
needing strength.

I ran out to the car; Skylar was sitting
there, looking anxious. I got in the car and turned toward him.