Destiny (Vanish Book Four) (9 page)

“I don’t understand this. It’s not possible,”
he whispered.

“Please don’t leave,” I begged. “What if
we’re making a huge mistake? What if there is something wrong with
this, what if Skylar and I are meant to be together, but not for
any
good
reason?”

“I’ll be back soon; I haven’t found what I’ve
been looking for yet.”

“What do you mean? You said you were going to
your aunts because she needed some help with something.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he laughed nervously. “She
still needs me.”

“But—”

The room filled with green and blue swirls. I
reached out to touch them, but before I could, they were gone,
along with Dante. I pulled the book closer to me and touched the
page.

I wanted to be friends with Skylar; that part
of me was still there, the part that begged me to go back and kiss
him again that first night. Now, I realized just what that part
wanted me to give up; what I couldn’t bear to lose. I looked down
at the book, and an orangey-red illuminated ink was running across
the page. I went to touch it, and then the ink ran off the page,
like water off waterproof fabric. It slithered under the bed and
left the page looking as it had before—Skylar and I, nothing
else.

I threw the book on the floor, grabbed my
keys and ran out the door. I needed to drive; I needed to get
everything off of my mind. I needed to go
somewhere
, I just
wasn’t sure where. I got in the car and sped off.

I ended up in the parking lot of the funeral
home. The first place I went, when I got back here. I stopped the
car. I wanted to go to our special place. I had some silly idea
that if I went there, Dante would be there waiting for me. I knew I
was wrong; I knew I was going crazy, but I needed him, and I needed
some hope.

I took a deep breath, and grabbed the handle
on the door. There was nothing to decipher, there was nothing to
fight the fact that I was supposed to be with Skylar.

I opened the door, and all the lights in the
car turned on.

“Wha—” Someone gasped from the backseat.

“What are you doing here Skylar?” I almost
screamed.

“I had nowhere to go, sorry.”

“What do you mean, you had nowhere to
go?”

“My mom… she wanted to move. She had been
planning it for a while.”

“So she left without you? And what happened
to
your
car?”

“She had to. She knew I was in love with you;
she knew that I wouldn’t leave, and she took the car it was
hers”

“And what about…” I gulped, “your dad?”

“That was something you changed for the
better when you went back in time. Sure I was never
evil
,
but my dad tried to—”

“Your dad… that’s it! He was evil. He wanted
us to live together for a reason, and it must have been this. Maybe
we weren’t meant to be together for a good reason. I mean the world
has to have some bad to keep its balance, right? So maybe we don’t
have to be together.”

It just kept spewing out, even as I saw the
look in his eyes go from hurt to torment. I couldn’t stop myself; I
couldn’t think about anything else but finding a way out of
this.

“I’m sorry you’re
stuck
with me. I
would do anything to be the guy you’re really in love with.”

“It’s not like that Skylar. There is a part
of me that wants to be with you so badly, but then there’s that
part that only wants Dante. These two parts are clashing with each
other and messing with my emotions. I can’t even think
straight.”

“You keep talking about these different parts
of you, Scarlett. You have only one heart. So, tell me, what does
your heart want?”

“Dante,” I whispered.

“Alright,” he mumbled.

“So there isn’t anywhere that you can go,
what about your friends?”

“It was kind of hard to make friends when I
was always too worried about you.”

Each time he spoke I felt sorrier and sorrier
for him. How could I alone, have messed his life up so badly? And
now I couldn’t wait to get rid of him, like he was nothing.

“I know where you can stay. You can’t sleep
in my car forever, and my mom would never let you stay in the
house.”

I drove down the long and winding streets
until I made it back to the neighborhood. I passed my house and
went down the street a little, and then I parked in front of George
and Elizabeth’s.

“Whose house is this?”

“My aunt’s. Wait here, I’ll need to
explain.”

I walked up to the door and knocked. It took
a few minutes for anyone to answer, but finally, Elizabeth came to
the door.

“Oh, Scarlett. What are you doing here this
late? Is everything alright?”

“Not really,” I said honestly.

I told her about Dante leaving, about the
events leading up to his departure, and the feelings that I
couldn’t ignore, but wanted to desperately.

“There are ways around these types of
things,” she began. “People have done it before, I just don’t know
how.”

“Who?”

“Your parents,” she sighed. “But it didn’t
work out for them.”

“What did they do?” I wondered.

“To this day, I don’t know, your mother would
never tell me. She hasn’t talked about your father since he left. I
don’t know any of the details, just that they were not meant to be
together.”

“When did he leave?” I wondered.

“Well, Sienna and Hazel would have been two,
so about fourteen, fifteen years ago.”

“Sienna and Hazel… did he take them with
him?”

“Yes, your mother hasn’t spoken of them
either,” she sighed.

“At first, up until recently, I thought they
didn’t exist here,” I admitted.

“No, but it’s as if they don’t. No one speaks
a word about them.”

“I saw them earlier… in pictures, and I think
I might have seen my dad.”

“Where, what are you talking about Scarlett?”
She demanded.

“I—I was in their house. I think my dad is a
murderer.”

“You can’t go back there, promise me you
won’t,” she ordered.

“I need to. I need more answers, not only
about the murder now; I need to know what they did.”

“It didn’t work Scarlett; they’re not
together anymore.”

“Even so—”

“Promise me you will not go back.”

“Why? Tell me why and maybe.”

“First of all, you can’t do this to your
mother. Second, I knew he was dangerous, but now apparently, he’s a
murderer.”

“So why haven’t you guys tried to find Sienna
and Hazel?”

“After sixteen years with him? After learning
everything they know from him, they are probably just as bad.”

“Fine, I won’t go back,” I lied.

“Good, there are just some things you should
leave alone, and this is one of those things.”

“Alright, thanks Aunt Elizabeth. Oh and one
more thing, I mentioned that Skylar didn’t have anywhere to stay…
didn’t I?”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Do you think that he could possibly—”

“You want him to stay here?”

“I promise he’s not as bad as we thought,” I
swore.

“Alright, bring him in.”

I went back out to the car. Skylar was just
sitting there staring straight ahead at nothing. I opened the car
door, and he jumped.

“Hey, you can stay here for a little while,”
I said.

“Alright.” He got out of the car and followed
me up to the door.

“Hello Skylar,” Elizabeth said. “We’ll get
you set up in the guest room, okay?”

“Okay,” he answered. “I’ll see you tomorrow
Scarlett.”

“Alright, goodnight guys,” I said before I
turned around and walked back to the car.

I sped off toward the hole in the fence. It
was a little soon to already be breaking my promise, but I had to.
This man, this horrible, awful man—was
my dad.

I wanted to believe that Ms. Winter deserved
it. I needed to believe this was some sort of mistake, that Aunt
Elizabeth had it all wrong. Somehow, someway, this needed to be
wrong. After years of wondering, trying to find answers, he was
less than a mile away.

I walked up to the circular fence and peeked
through a tiny hole in the bushes. The house was lit up, and the
light shined pink through the curtains. The porch light welcomed
me. Something told me to go knock on the door, something inside me
desperately wanted to know the other person who had a part in my
existence.

I walked toward the opening in the fence and
stopped. Though I wanted to believe better, I knew I would be
putting myself in danger, but something made me continue
forward.

I walked up to the porch and knelt down as I
looked through the window. They were all sitting there in a circle.
I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they were all talking at
the same time. Actually, it looked like they were all saying the
same thing. There was something in the middle of their circle, but
I wasn’t quite sure what it was. The girls got up and grabbed
something—it was a potion, in the same glass vials as the rest.
While they were up, I could see what was in the middle. It was a
small, clear, glass bowl. Next to it was one of the knives with the
hollow handles. They took the top off of the vial, and carefully
poured half in. Next, the man took the knife and pricked his finger
with it. He let the handle fill up only a little bit, and he took
the blue liquid inside and poured it into the bowl.

The girls sat back down, but this time, they
left just enough space between them, that I could still see the
bowl. They all joined hands and sat there chanting. It seemed like
they kept repeating the same word. It took me a minute to figure
out what that word was—Scarlett.

A picture started to appear within the bowl.
At first, it was just a mixture of different colors, swirling
around. Then it started to take shape. The picture in the bowl was
showing exactly what I was doing in this moment—peeking through
their window.

Their eyes shot to the window, and I ducked
down, but it wasn’t fast enough. I heard them running for the door.
I didn’t understand what was going on. Why were they looking for
me? Was it so we could all be reunited, or did they have a more
sinister plan in mind?

I got up and ran for the gate. I made it out,
and they gave up. I just wondered how long that potion would work
for. Would they be able to see where I was and what I was doing at
all times? I had every reason to believe that they were evil, but
this could all just be a misunderstanding. At least, that was what
I needed to believe.

I pulled a box out from under the bed. I
couldn’t think about the woman who undoubtedly could have died
because of my decision to take them. Every life I touched could be
worse for it, but I had no time to ponder that.

I moved aside heavy, old books. Underneath
them, were at least fifty vials, filled to the brim with variously
colored liquids. I had no way to know what any of them did.

I looked around some more. That was when I
noticed the book I’d left on the floor. It had turned to a
different page—the last page. It was blank, nothing but discolored,
white paper. Then, the magical, orange ink started to spread across
the page. ‘You are here’ was the first thing it said.

Then the line started moving away, until
finally, it reached an X. Next, the ink appeared to be drawing a
picture, or just wavy lines—waves, that was it. This was a map
leading somewhere outside next to the lake.

I picked up the book, grabbed a flashlight,
and started walking outside. The line turned black where I had
already been, it led me to where Dante and I came back to life. The
X turned black and the ink ran off the page.

I set the book down; I would need to dig. The
grass where the X had been on the page, was a few shades darker
green than the rest. I went to dig my hands down into the earth,
but instead, buried under the grass, I found a handle. I lifted up
and the metal door underneath the grass; it groaned as it opened.
The grass came up in a perfect square and stayed stuck to the
door.

I picked up the flashlight; it didn’t look
like there was any source of light down there. I grabbed the book,
set it on the first step, and then I grabbed the handle under the
door and pulled it back down.

I left the book at the top of the stairs, and
ventured down. The floor and walls were all made of cement, but
along the walls, were at least a hundred wooden cupboards. Some of
the cupboards were filled with necklaces, some potions. There were
books in others and a ton of stuff that I wasn’t too sure about. In
the spaces that didn’t have cupboards, there were pictures drawn
all over the walls.

When I got to the end of the tunnel, I
realized it wasn’t the end—there was a door. I turned the doorknob,
but it was stuck. With a little effort, I got it open. It looked
the same on the other side, more cabinets, filled with more books,
potions, and necklaces.

Again, at the end there was a door. This one
opened with a little less effort. When I stepped through, I took a
deep breath. There was more space, it wasn’t another tunnel, but a
room filled with boxes. There was no door out but the one I came in
through.

I decided to take a quick look in one of the
boxes. It was filled with books. The book on top looked oddly
familiar and in that moment, I knew exactly why—I had been here
before.

I had no time to react. The wall moved aside,
and standing there smiling, was my dad. His smile looked sincere,
but in the most evil way. He walked over to me and grabbed me by
the neck, lifting me up a foot above the ground.

“You were spying on me,” he growled.

“I know—” I choked. “I know you’re my
dad.”

He set me down and that smile returned, but
his hand stayed firmly around my neck.