Gray (Awakening Book 1) (5 page)

He stopped next to me and I almost wept with pleasure at the sight of the bread and cheese in his hand, the water skin in his other. He would be put in the chains next to mine if Gerik found out he’d come, but there was no way he would find out from me.

Dorian leaned down to bring his mouth within an inch of my ear, his voice whisper quiet. “Wait, Gray One. Allow me to clean your wound before you eat,” he said and set the food aside.

I took his hand and squeezed, thankful even to see someone else.

Dorian squeezed my fingers in encouragement and turned me around so my back was to him. He leaned down again, his hand on my shoulder as he whispered. “The mark of the wolf cannot be removed from your skin by my magic. It is your birthright, not mine. I can only clean the wound. Remain as quiet as you can, Gray One,” he whispered, then lifted my shirt up in the back to reveal that burn.

I gulped, sure it would be horrible. I clenched my teeth, bowed my head and prayed for the strength not to scream.

Dorian squeezed my shoulder in encouragement and took another skin out to clean the burn with a mix of vinegar and water.

I had to stuff my knuckles into my mouth to hold back the scream of pain. It was almost as excruciating as the original burn, but I had gotten used to pain. I was desensitized. I focused my mind on nothing but the acidic smell of vinegar, not how my head swam or my stomach roiled.

Dorian pulled my shirt down and turned me around. He lifted the water skin for me to drink. It was enough that he had cared to clean my wounds and try to ease some of my pain.

“I will bring you food as often as I can, Gray One. Be well,” he said before he turned to walk away.

“Thank you,” I whispered with a prayer my friend wouldn’t be caught in his defiance of the orders of the Black King.

My whole body shook like a leaf. What was going on? What was wrong with me? Why did that hallucination feel like it had really happened?

I took in a deep breath of air and let it out slowly. I couldn’t go crazy in the middle of school. I had to save it. I had to get a grip on myself and . . . but it had felt so real.

Was there any way it could be? A guy with weird ears might have been a friend to me wherever I had been held. Maybe I had been left in some black place as a punishment for something. It was plausible, at least sort of.

I swallowed hard and pushed all of it out of my mind. I had to focus on my classes. I had to focus on the people around me. I had to focus on Francis.

Francis had proven himself to be a friend even after so many years. We’d had fun when we were little and I was positive we would still have fun. He laughed easily and that was the kind of person I wanted to have around me. I wanted to be happy and pretend nothing bad had ever happened.

It was a relief when I saw the right room number in front of me. I was determined to make the rest of the day a good one. I would just ignore everybody but Francis. That would work perfectly.

Statistics, then Art, then AP Chemistry and finally it was lunch time. Instead of searching through the crowd for Francis, I decided to let him find me. I went to get in line with a vain hope the food would be better than Kassia’s cooking had been so far.

“Oh, my poor Shayla. I’m so happy to see you, sweetie,” London shrieked and rushed over to wrap her arms around me again.  “Oh sweetie! You’re just skin and bone, you poor little thing,” she yelled while she smoothed her hand over my hair like I was some abused puppy or something. “You look so much better than you did the other day.”

I made a face and pulled back from her with a sharp smile. “You look a lot better too, London. I was worried about you when you took off so fast,” I said, just to remind her about that strange outpouring of water from her nose, to knock her down a peg or two.

She didn’t acknowledge my reminder, but put on another wide, bright, false smile. Her little sheep followed her loyally. They nodded stupidly at everything she said. “I was surprised I didn’t see another story about you on the news from Saturday. People want to know what happened to you, sweetie.”

The water in the air called to me. It wanted to help me yet again. No. That wasn’t possible. It was just in my imagination. Reality was all there was. “I personally prefer the story of Little Red Riding Hood. I always thought the wolf was clever to dress up as the grandma, either that or Red Riding Hood was a moron,” I said simply to distract myself from my own craziness.

I heard someone snicker, so glanced over. It was a relief to see Francis and a few other people who had been in one or two of my classes. “Oh come on. The Three Little Pigs was way better. The wolf in that one was just arrogant . . . and gassy,” he said and waved his hand in front of his nose.

I threw back my head and laughed. “I’m pretty sure the huffing and puffing was because he was a descendant of the Norse god of wind, Njord. I don’t think he was farting the houses down.”

“Oh Shayla, sweetie, why don’t you come sit with us. I’m sure Francis can live without you,” London interrupted us. She put her arm around my shoulders as she sneered at him.

“No thanks,” I said brightly and stepped back to stand next to Francis. “I wouldn’t want to be responsible for the breakdown he might have if I abandon him at this crucial juncture in our friendship.”

He sighed gustily. “I was about to cry, Shayla. Thanks for saving me the embarrassment.”

“Your hair is embarrassing enough,” London snarled at him, thrusting her nose in the air as she turned to walk off.

I grimaced, then gave my friend an apologetic look. “Thanks for rescuing me. If I’d had to sit with her and her ilk I might have ralphed on the table.”

Francis smacked his palm into his forehead. “Now I wish I would have let you flounder, just so I could see that!” He shook his head. “Don’t listen to anything she says though, Shayla. She’s just one of those girls that isn’t happy until she’s made three people cry and I have become her favorite target, so you were bound to get hit by the fallout.”

I narrowed my eyes. How dare she mess with Francis. I should have done something, said something more than my little joke. She could not hurt my friend.

“So is it really true you don’t remember anything from the last eight years?” a girl in the group asked, her eyes wide in wonderment at the idea.

I shrugged, determined not to discuss any of it. “It’s true.” I smiled at the girl. “You’re in my Chemistry class, right?”

She nodded and that was it. We started to talk and everybody else chimed in, that little group becoming all important to me just that quickly.

It was fabulous. I felt whole, free, almost completely normal. They didn’t stare and whisper about me, they talked to me and I talked to them. They became what I had needed so desperately, a happy distraction from the chaos of my mind.

It was altogether obvious I was using them to block out my own insanity, but oh well. All that mattered was to soak in as much of their gloriously normal lives as could be managed.

I wouldn’t allow myself to think about the weird dreams which felt like memories, or the magic which flowed through the air around me, or anything abnormal. I was an ordinary human girl. That was it. That was all.

I stood and stared into the mirror. My back was crisscrossed by scars. They were ugly, disfiguring marks, but the one which made my heartrate pick up was the wolf symbol which had been branded into my shoulder blade.

It felt so familiar, but no memory would come clear in my mind. The wolf meant something, I was certain. What was it though?

I heard a knock on the front door, so tugged on my shirt and walked down the steps. It was such a strange thing when I opened the front door, to see the Chief, so few changes having come to him in the last eight years. He looked rock solid and like family.

I smiled and stepped forward to wrap my arms around his waist. With the Chief around, Kassia and I weren’t quite as alone. “I swear, ossifer . . . I ain’t had nothing to drink,” I said with a grin and a fake hiccup.

The Chief didn’t smile. “Why don’t you try saying the alphabet backwards for me.”

I fake hiccupped again and stepped back to beckon him into the house. “Z, Y, X, W, E, I, E, I, O.” I sang the last five letters.

“I’ve got some duct tape handy, if you want to shut her up for a while, Chief,” Kassia said, as she stepped into the entryway with us.

“I take it you girls don’t need me to break up squabbles over who stole whose book, or who’s smarter any longer?” the Chief asked with a small smile.

“Of course not. Kassia’s the thief and I’m more smarter. No competition.” I beamed at both of them, going to the closet for my jacket.

Kassia shook her head a little. “Pizza ok with you, Chief? Shayla seems to be more interested in clogging her arteries than anything else,” she asked as we all trooped out the door. She set the security alarm and locked the doors as fastidiously as she always did.

“If that’s what sounds good to you girls.” The Chief turned his eyes to meet mine. “How has your first week back to school been, Shayla?”

I continued to smile so they wouldn’t be able to see the rust in my armor. “It’s ok. Good sometimes, awful other times,” I said with a shrug. “You remember Francis Ruggles?”

The Chief nodded.

“He’s been amazing, made me feel like I was home the first moment I saw him.” It made me happy to be able to tell the truth in one respect.

“He’s a good boy. I’ve never had a spec of trouble from him. Nice, respectful boy with a good family too.”

I chuckled as we got into the Chief’s car. It amused me that he seemed to think I was interested in Francis that way. “We were discussing the time he peed his pants on the bus in first grade. Even his ears turned red laughing about it.”

Kassia rolled her eyes at me. “Shayla, you ever think maybe the kid might not want to relive embarrassing moments for you to laugh at him about?”

“You are so right. Next time he brings something up, I’ll tell him to shut up just so Mighty Queen Kassia doesn’t have to pull out her superhero tights and cape to defend the helpless,” I said with a sneer as she glanced back at me.

Her lips quirked, but she didn’t quite smile. “I haven’t seen Francis in several years. Is he still orange?”

I sneered at that reference to Francis’ bright red hair. “He’s a regular Irish flag, Kassia.” I looked at the Chief in the rearview mirror. “So how’s the crime prevention business treating you, Chief?” I asked, to bring him back into the conversation.

“It’s a good town with good people.” He smiled at me in the mirror. “We have a few I’d like to run out of town, but most are worth protecting.”

I smiled back. “Any chance you want to give me some dirt on anybody in my class so I have something to throw back at them when they call me Lindbergh?” I asked, but regretted the words immediately. A cold flash of anger passed over both of them.

“Who’s been calling you Lindbergh?” Kassia looked ready to bash skulls together or something.

“People who don’t know their history,” I said and turned a wide smile on her. “When are you going back to college? You’ve got a couple of semesters left for your nursing degree, right? Or do you just plan to be an EMT for the rest of your life?”

I knew it was a low blow since she’d simply been following the urge to protect me. If I could get the Chief on the subject of Kassia’s college courses though, neither of them would remember my stupid mention of my new name at school.

It worked beautifully. The Chief asked Kassia pushy questions, which Kassia took offense to, which ended in an awkward silence.

Wow, look at me. I can make the only two people in the world who love me miserable. What an amazing accomplishment.

It was a relief when we walked into the pizza place a few minutes later. That relief was short lived as I saw the wavy, blond head of the guy who had gotten everybody to call me Lindbergh. He sat at a table with London, Micah, Ben and a few others, his expression as unpleasant as usual.

Speak of the devil and the devil wants pizza as much as you do.

I didn’t acknowledge any of them, but walked toward an empty table. If only we had just eaten at home to save me the sight of that group.

Ben smiled and stood up, walking out of the restaurant. He didn’t speak to any of the people at his table who asked him where he was going and what he was doing.

I didn’t know what to make of this, but didn’t care enough to look. I just sat down and turned my eyes to regard Kassia. “Hey, how would you like to teach me to drive?” I asked, already aware she wouldn’t agree. I had only wanted to find some way to break the tension which had been created by me.

Kassia sat for a moment, before she slowly nodded. “I’ve been thinking about that. I mean, you are seventeen.” She didn’t even look bothered by the idea.

I opened my mouth and stared at her. “Chief, I think my sister might have been taken over by aliens. We have GOT to find the pod before they take over the world.”

The Chief didn’t answer, his eyes fixed on something over my shoulder.

“You asked me to teach you, now you’re—”

“Kassia, you say no on everything. I didn’t really think you’d agree.” I patted her hand. “Pod people are so much cooler than the real you.”

She made that half cough, half laugh sound, but turned to look at something over my shoulder as well.

I didn’t know what was going on, so looked at whatever had drawn their attention. Ben had just stepped through the door with a box full of stuff. I would guess he had found it all in the walls, or the basement, maybe the fireplace.

He grinned at me as he set the box down. He took out three books and handed them to Kassia. “I found these in the wall the other day and since I was told they were stolen from you, I figured it’d be safer to give them straight to you.”

Kassia stared at the books for five long seconds, before she shook her head and began to flip through them. “You’re Ben, aren’t you?” she asked, her eyes fixed down on the treasure in her hands.

“That’s me,” Ben said with a wide grin. He didn’t even look at the Chief.

“Any brothers or sisters?” Kassia asked.

“No.”

She looked up. “Want mine? She’ll talk your ear off, make nonstop jokes and steal your stuff, but she’s yours for the low, low price of $19.95.”

“Excuse me?” I said, my mouth open in shocked disgust. “I am worth so much more than $19.95.”

“Okay, maybe $29.95.”

Ben and I both laughed, but Ben shook his head. “I—” he began, though broke off as London flounced over and slid her arm around his waist.

“Oh, aren’t you sweet to share your things. Maybe this can help our poor little Shayla to remember something,” she said, her chest thrust out again apparently to draw attention to what she had and I didn’t.

Ben didn’t look at what she offered, but turned his eyes again to meet mine. “There’s something else,” he said and crouched down, which shucked London’s arm off his waist. He took out a frame and handed it to me. “The box of sketches is in here, but this one was so good, I’ve had it on my desk,” he said, those dark eyes of his full of compassion.

I took the frame and tears came to my eyes. It was a sketch of Kassia riding Mom’s horse, with a creepy little creature next to her. The creature had my face. “Mom was telling me a story,” I said quietly, my eyes fixed on the paper. “It was about magical powers in this line of being that was half Black elf, half White elf. I was sure they were monsters. I thought I was one. I—”

“Shayla. That’s enough,” the Chief said sharply, but I didn’t look at him.

Enough? Enough of what? Enough fairy tales, or enough of the lie that I was ordinary?

Not here. Not now. Forget, Gray One. You must forget.

I blinked and turned my eyes up to find Ben and London staring at me. I looked hard at Ben, baffled to see his brow wrinkled as though he was worried. Those high cheekbones of his, which were so much like his mother’s, but his appeared to have been chiseled from stone. “Got any spare HGH? I would love to see what the world looks like up there,” I said with a smile just at him, pretending London wasn’t even there.

He stood for a long moment, then shook his head. “Stand on a chair,” he said, but it was obvious something was wrong. He looked at me like blood poured from my body or something.

Oh, it did. I picked up a napkin and tipped my head back to staunch the flow of blood from my nose.

“Shayla, what happened to you?” Kassia looked ready to throw up.

I shook my head and rose from my seat, to get to the bathroom.

I had the urge to take the napkin away and throw it at London, yet that was too gross to contemplate.

When I passed the blond kid’s table, he muttered “Lindbergh loser,” obviously too big a coward to yell it like he did at school, with the Chief and my sister in close proximity.

It took a minute and a lot of toilet paper to get my nose stopped. By the time it was done, my head felt like it had been stuck in a vice while that stupid blond kid tightened it viciously hard. I wasn’t sure what had made my nose bleed and my head hurt. Strangely, it was like I had missed something, or forgotten something very important. Maybe I really was crazy.

I grimaced and shook my head to dislodge that stupid thought. I wasn’t crazy. I was just . . . something. Weird, I guess. There was nothing wrong with being weird. All the greatest artists were, but I’d never cut off my ear and present it to an ex like they say Van Gogh did. Guess that meant I wasn’t as strange as some people.

I rolled my eyes at myself and turned to walk out of the bathroom. We had come for pizza, but pizza hadn’t even been mentioned once. I would remedy that very soon.

My heart leapt up like it wanted to escape my chest as a hulking figure loomed over me just outside the bathroom door. I’d have to be very fast to fight an opponent that much bigger than me.

“I’d guess you wouldn’t give me a serious answer if I asked if you’re alright.”

I rolled my eyes at Ben and rested my hand over my overactive heart. “Loom much?” I shrugged as though unconcerned by his question. “Nobody really wants to know the truth when they ask how you are anyway. I just save people the effort,” I said, my arms folded in a belligerent pose.

He leaned back against the wall and folded his arms as well. “So you hide behind that smile of yours so nobody can see you bleed?”

I tapped my nose. “I’d say everybody saw me bleed,” I said, but was disconcerted that he saw me so clearly, that he understood what no one else had.

Ben didn’t respond to my comment, but stood straight again, his head cocked to the side like a quizzical puppy. “You know, Shayla, if you ever let down that shield you hide behind, you might find there’s a bunch of people around here who’d like to know who you really are. Not everybody’s like Paul and London are to you.”

Oh, so the blond kid’s name was Paul, noted.
“You want to know who I really am, Ben?” I asked, as anger rose inside me. “I’m a girl who woke up from a nightmare to find her whole world had disappeared. I’m trying not to lose my mind, so I laugh as often as I can, then I get criticized for it by some guy who can’t be bothered to stand up and tell his BFF to shut up calling me Lindbergh. That’s who I am. Who are you?” I asked, my lip curled back in a sneer.

“Paul is no friend of mine, but you’re right.” He took a step in the direction of the dining area. “I should have stopped him the first time. He won’t call you that again, I promise,” and he walked toward that table.

I grimaced. It would be amazing to see Ben beat the blond guy to a bloody pulp, but it was my issue, not his. He didn’t need to fight my battles for me and I shouldn’t have made him feel like he needed to.

I jumped in front of Ben, my hand on his stomach to stop him. It irritated me to have to look up so far, but I shook my head in hopes he would pay attention.

When he had stopped, I turned my lips up in a wide smile and whirled around, walking over to where that stupid kid sat. “You’re Paul, right?” I asked, but didn’t wait for him to respond. “I don’t like you and you have made it abundantly clear you don’t like me. Let’s leave it at that. You won’t refer to me as Lindbergh anymore and I won’t refer to you as the brainless blond,” I said and patted his shoulder. “Good talk. Let’s never do it again.” I walked back to my table, unsure how my sister and the Chief would react to the situation.