Rise of the Fallen 1 - My Soul to Keep (16 page)

"Wow." I was starting to repeat myself. I didn't understand
all the hubbub. "I thought you said we were hideous?"

Clarisse stared at me in awe. I wondered what my face looked like.
I walked over to her tiny pink Bug and tried to bend down to look in the side-view
mirror. It didn't work.

"Sorry, Clarisse." I ripped the mirror off the side of the
car. I'd have her show me how to fix it later. I held the tiny mirror in front of
my face and gave a little gasp myself. My hair had turned as white as Shannon's.
My eyes glowed red like Clarisse's. I had fangs, but they were shorter. I’d been
half hoping for scales like Clarisse, but my skin looked normal, just blue. Gone
was every freckle and blemish. My lips were a little darker blue than my skin and
my ears came to a point above my hair. I looked friggin cool. My horns shone like
onyx and sprouted from the sides of my forehead and swooped up until they almost
met above my head. I wanted to take a picture.

I dropped the mirror and it dissipated into nothingness. I turned and
smiled at the three Chosen in front of me. They frowned and turned toward each other.
The other two quickly assumed their true forms as they leaned in and whispered quietly
to themselves.

I turned to Clarisse. "Not too shabby, eh?"

Her eyes went wide and she started shaking her head to tell me to be
quiet. "Act disgusted," she mouthed.

"Why? I look friggin’ cool."

The others lifted their heads at my statement. Clarisse mouthed a word
I didn't have any trouble understanding. My father used it enough whenever he stubbed
his toe or smashed his thumb with a hammer. It happened every other day or so.

"What did you say?" Shannon ignored the other two and strode
right up to me.

"I said I look friggin’ cool?" I didn't get what the big
deal was.

"You are hideous! You are imperfect and there is no room for imperfection
in this world!" She swung her mace at my face.

Oh, that's why Clarisse told me to be quiet.

My twin black blades met the ball and shaft of her mace. Her weapon
sparked. Mine seemed to feed off the sparks. They started glowing. I'd never seen
anything glow black. They radiated darkness like Clarisse's wings. Shannon stared
at my blades like I'd just skewered two puppies with them.

"Not possible," she said and looked at me. "He is an
abomination. He deserves not to live!"

The other two Chosen attacked me. Clarisse intercepted one of them
with her fiery sword, but that still left two of them against me. I was going to
get my ass kicked. Or killed.

They weaved in and out and attacked me simultaneously like they'd been
fighting together since the beginning of time. For all I knew, they had.

They moved very slowly and I blocked every attack without much effort.
A block here, a parry there, I got bored quickly and slid the blade in my right
hand up the shaft of Shannon's mace and nicked her finger. I had just wanted to
give her a reason to stop attacking me. Instead, she screamed and jumped back. She
looked down at her finger as silver blood slowly dripped down to the paved road
beneath her feet and made a sound like a church-bell as it struck.

Everyone stopped fighting and stared at Shannon. She sucked in a deep
breath and bowed low. Turning, she gathered the other two Chosen with a sweep of
her hand. They leapt into the afternoon sky and left Clarisse and I standing in
the middle of the street.

"What the hell just happened?"

"You drew first blood. The fight was over unless they wanted to
restart the war. They only meant to humiliate us."

"I hope they know it would take a lot more than a cut to humiliate
me. I'm still in high school."

Chapter 18

Clarisse offered to drive me the rest of the way home, but I wanted
to walk. Changing back into my human form had been easier than I thought. She seemed,
for lack of a better word, weird after our encounter with the Chosen. I didn't know
what it meant, nor did I ask.

I opened the front door of my empty house and went up to my room. I
thought about playing video games, but flopped down on my bed and picked up my phone
instead. I dialed Jessie's number without thinking about it.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Jessie, it's me, Connor." I'm sure it sounded more like,
"Hijessieitsmeconnor," but what can I say? I was nervous. Even talking
to her on the phone caused me to break out in sweats and chills.

"Slow down, Skippy. Take a deep breath. Did you make it home okay?"

"Yes? Why?"

"Well, with the day you had, I just wanted to make sure. Are you
feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a weird day is all."

"You could say that again!"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a weird day is all…" I waited for it.

"Smart ass."

I laughed into the phone. "Jessie…" I swallowed and took
a big lungful of air to help build up my courage.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering, if you're not busy…"

"Deep breaths, what is it?"

"Would you go to the Halloween dance with me?" There I said
it. Now I just had to wait for the inevitable
no
.

"Well, jeez." My heart sank. "You see Jeremy already
asked me…"

My room started spinning. I could feel heat climb into my face and
I'm sure if I looked, my eyes would be glowing red. "He what?"

"Yeah, he already asked. At lunch."

"Oh. Okay." I wanted to throw up.

"It's a good thing I said no, huh? I hoped you'd ask me so I told
him I already made plans. I'm glad you finally did.
That
could have been
a little embarrassing."

"You said no?"

"Of course I did. I want to go with you!"

My heart started beating again and the nausea dissipated on a cloud
of rainbows and puppy dogs. I don't think I'd ever been happier than right there
and then. It's amazing what a simple
yes
can do. I was still going to skin
Jeremy and hang his carcass in the center of town, but I was happy. "Great!
Thank you, Jessie."

"For what?"

"For saying no to Jeremy and being patient while I built up my
courage. For being you. For putting up with all the strange stuff that's been going
on. And most of all for saying yes to me."

"You're welcome. Pick me up at eight."

"I will."

"What are you going as?" Her question caught me a little
off guard.

"Excuse me?"

"It's a costume dance. What costume are you wearing? I'll see
what I can do to match…"

"A demon," popped out of my mouth. I didn't even hesitate.

"Sweet! I'll go as an angel!"

I pictured her in fluffy white wings and a flimsy outfit. I know the
Chosen are our mortal enemies, but I won't lie. The image in my head "worked".
I imagine Jessie would look good in anything. Or nothing…I dropped that line of
thought as soon as it started.

"Connor?"

"Huh?"

"You okay?"

"Oh, yeah. Was just picturing you dressed up as an angel."

"Is that okay?"

"You have no idea how perfect that sounds."

* * *

The sound of the front door opening broke me out of my Jessie themed
daydream. I sat up and headed downstairs to see which of my rents arrived home first.

Instead I found Caelyn had come in and sat on the couch with Shannon.
Not eight foot tall, silvery eyed Shannon, just plain old captain of the cheerleading
squad Shannon. I smiled at her and my sister. I didn't particularly like the idea
of one of the Chosen hanging out with my sister but I couldn't exactly bash the
smile off the winged freaks face with Caelyn sitting there.

"Evening, ladies," I said with as much sugar as I could muster.

"What do you want?" My sister stared at me with disgust.

"Nothing, I'm a little hungry, I was gonna head to the mall for
pretzels. Would you care to join me?" I snickered at the thought. This was
kind of fun.

"Did you start taking drugs? Why the hell would we go to the mall
with you?"

"Sure," Shannon said at the same time.

I don't know who looked more shocked, me or my sister.

"What?" Caelyn spoke first.

"I'm hungry, too. Come on, we can take my car," Shannon said,
leaving little room for argument.

This was bad. Very bad. I didn't know what her game was, but if she
thought I would get into a car with her, her self-righteous attitude had made her
crazy.

"Fine," Caelyn said and threw her arms in the air, "but
I'm riding shotgun."

I tried to think of an excuse. Shannon must have seen the wheels turning
in my head. She jumped off the couch like a normal teenage girl and grabbed my arm.

"Come on, this will be fun," she said and started dragging
me to the front door. I thought about kicking and screaming, but figured it wouldn't
help.

"Great. Thanks for the ride," I managed to say. I took one
last look at my house, figuring it might be the last time I saw it.

Thank God the drive took less than five minutes. The whole ride over
in Shannon's little convertible HHR was the most uncomfortable I've ever been. She
and my sister chatted about school and boys the whole time in the front, while I
expected Shannon to turn around and skewer me like a piece of beef in the back of
the car. I should have offered to ride in the trunk. That would have made me
and
my sister happy.

We parked, and I made a mental note that the Chosen and Fallen have
one thing in common, good parking places. It was less than fifty feet to the glass
entrance of the mall.

"What do you think, Connor?" Shannon's voice broke me from
my thoughts.

"About what?"

"Weren't you paying attention? We were discussing possible Halloween
costumes. I was thinking about going as winged creature of light."

"You mean an angel?" I tried not to sound incredulous.

"Yes, an angel. What are you going as?"

"I was thinking about going as a winged creature of darkness."
I gave her my best attempt at an evil smile. She stiffened and returned the smile
I'd been attempting.

"Good, we can go as mortal enemies then. Be sure to save at least
one dance for me."

"Oh, I will. What are you going as brat?" I turned my attention
to Caelyn. She stood there with one hand on her hip, taking turns looking at Shannon
and me.

"What's going on? Are you going to the dance together?"

Shannon and I laughed simultaneously. "Of course not! I'm sure
your brother already has a date!" She looked at me. "You're probably going
with that skeez, Claire. Aren't you?" She looked at me triumphantly.

"No, I'm not. We're just friends. I have another date."

We headed for the mall entrance. "Yeah, right. You can't bring
Jeremy to a dance and call him your date," my sister said.

"I'm not. I'm going with Jessie." I almost ran into the back
of my sister and her "friend". To say they stopped short would be an understatement.
I almost heard their tennis shoes squeak to a stop on the tarmac. "What?"

"You need to stay away from her, Connor," Shannon said levelly.
She almost sounded concerned. I tilted my head as I looked at her.

"It figures only a blind girl would go with
you
."

I balled my fists and turned on my sister. Shannon did the same. She
beat me to the punch, so to speak.

"Apologize
right now!"
I could hear the venom in Shannon's
voice and I actually felt worried for the brat.

"Relax! I was kidding. Jessie is nice. Too nice for the likes
of him," she said by way of apology. Shannon seemed to shimmer for a moment
as she calmed herself. Caelyn blinked twice and shook her head.

I ignored both of them, walked around them, and into the warmth of
the mall. I heard the door open behind me and heard Caelyn whisper, "Do you
like
my brother?"

"Don't be silly, Cae. It bothers me when people use the less fortunate
as the brunt of a joke."

"What's a brunt?"

I laughed and got in line at the pretzel shop.

I ordered two for myself and asked my sister and Shannon if they wanted
anything. Shannon said yes. My sister looked at me funny. I paid and handed Shannon
hers. She devoured them faster than I did. I guess she didn't have to worry about
excessive carbohydrates either. We both finished and licked our fingers and laughed
at my sister's disgusted look. When she thought we weren't looking, I caught her
pinching herself.
No, little sister. You haven't fallen into an alternate universe.

"You guys ready to go?" I wanted this to be over in the worst
way.

"Almost. I just need to pick up a few things while we're here.
Come on, Connor, I'd like your opinion if you don't mind," Shannon said musically.
Too musically. Something was wrong.