Rise of the Fallen 1 - My Soul to Keep (20 page)

I slowed down as we approached the front door. “Yeah. I can’t even
begin to tell you how nervous I am about tonight. Me and dancing don’t get along
well.” I hated lying to her, but it beat telling the truth.
Um, my demonic friend
felt something when she touched you. She wants to tell me, but couldn’t do it in
front of you. So sorry.

I pulled in a breath of air and opened the front door.

“Are your parents home yet?”

“No. Not yet. We’ve got about a half an hour. My sister should be pulling
in any minute. They cancelled cheer practice today because of the dance. It’s gonna
take her a while to get into her witches outfit and fire up her broom.”

“Is that what she’s going as?”

“No. That’s what she wears on Friday nights,” I said smiling triumphantly.
I told a funny.

“You’re terrible. Your sister has always been very nice to me.”

“Be careful. She probably wants something. Like your soul,” I said
without thinking and stopped moving.
Talk about the pot calling the cauldron
black. Sheesh. Nice move, Connor.

“Well, she can’t have it. I already promised it for one glimpse of
you,” she said and smiled. I wanted to throw up.

“Jessie, trust me. Don’t ever talk like that. Keep your soul safe.
Very, very safe.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but I silenced her by pressing my lips
against hers. It worked perfectly. Jessie’s arms reached around my neck and pulled
me close. I clasped my hands behind her back and held her as tightly as I could
without hurting her. Nothing ever felt more right in my life.

Too bad my sister ruined it.

Chapter 23

“Thanks for dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan. I love spaghetti.”

“You’re welcome, dear. You two better get dressed. Caelyn, why don’t
you help Jessie?”

“Okay, Mom. Come on, Jessica. Do you have your costume?”

“She left it by the front door. It’s in the purple gym bag,” I said
trying to be helpful. Caelyn shot me a very Caelyn-like look and I stuck my tongue
out at her. Nice to know some things would never change.

“Thanks, Caelyn,” Jessie said and stood up, knocking her half empty
glass of water over. “Oh, my God, I am so sorry!”

“Don’t worry about it, Jess. I’ll clean it up. Go get ready. Claire
will be here shortly.” I happened to look over at Caelyn and I swear I saw her snarl
when I mentioned Clarisse’s name. I really couldn’t blame her, sometimes I did,
too.

I started mopping up the spilled water. Mom stopped me before I even
had half of it up. “Go get dressed, honey. I’ll clean this up.”

Instead of doing what she said, I turned and gave her a hug. She was
proud of me. Proud I'd met somebody. Proud I was going to the dance. “Thanks, Mom.
I’ll be down in a few.” I left her there mopping up the spilled water and ran upstairs
to my room. I passed by Caelyn’s room and stopped cold.

“What do you see in him?”

“What do you mean, Caelyn? He’s your brother!”

“He’s a slug. Beneath you. You are a lady. He has the attention span
of a gnat and the brains that God gave a goat. Make that a goat’s ass. You could
have anybody in the school, why did you pick him?”

“You don’t pick who you have feelings for. It just happens. Just so
you know, I consider myself lucky for having them for him. Your brother is honorable,
caring, and attentive. Trust me; I could have done far worse.”

“You love him?”

“I don't know. I've never been in love before. I will say I've never
felt this way about anybody before.”

“I’m sorry. For meddling. It isn’t my place.”

I smiled at Jessie’s answer and scrunched my eyebrows at Caelyn’s.
Not her place? Her place is under a rock, but I don’t think that’s what she’s
talking about.
I giggled and headed to my room. To “change”.

I closed my door and let my power loose. I turned and looked at the
mirror behind my door and…
oh, shit.

I'd gone full Fallen. I looked up and my face was only inches away
from the popcorn ceiling. I turned and my wings scraped the walls of my tiny room.

“Connor, are you okay?” I spun and looked at the door. Mom must have
come upstairs to check on the girls. I couldn’t let her see me like this. There’s
no way she’d believe this was a costume.

“Yeah, I just tripped, Mom. I’m fine. Be out in a minute.”

“Okay, sweetie. Hurry up. I’m sure the girls are almost ready.”

I knew I hadn’t been in my room for over three hours. That’s how long
it usually took a girl to get ready. Or at least that was my experience. “Thanks,
Mom.”

I stared at the mirror. I let my power loose but as soon as it slipped
outward, I called it back in. Or at least most of it. I pictured myself with red
(not glowing) eyes, smaller bat-like wings, and just a smidgeon of horn. I closed
my eyes and felt it come. I opened them and there I stood. Just like I'd imagined.

“That’s friggin’ cool.”

I opened the door to a flash. I blinked my eyes twice and Mom standing
there with a camera came into focus. “Oh, honey! Where did you get that costume?
It is fantastic!” She reached out to touch one of my wings and I pulled it away.

“Careful, Mom. They aren’t too sturdy.”

“Oh, sorry,” she said and lightly ran her finger along the strong bone
running from my back up to the first joint. I had to fight very, very hard not to
laugh. It tickled. Bad. “They feel so real!”

“Yeah, amazing what they can do with latex nowadays.”

“How did you afford them?”

Well, I’d tell you, but I hadn’t thought that far ahead.
“Jeremy is working part
time at a costume shop. He got me a free rental. I just have to be sure not to break
them.”

“He’s such a good boy.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. “Yeah, he sure is, Mom. Are they ready
yet?”

“Jessica is. Your sister hasn’t even started getting ready yet.”

“Shocker.”

Mom lightly slapped my arm but giggled anyway. I looked over Mom’s
shoulder just as Jess walked out. My heart stopped. She stood there in very light
robes that looked incredibly soft. She had fake angel wings strapped to her back.
They were amazingly life like. Someone must have glued each real feather to the
frame one by one. She looked like she could fly. She had a light dusting of glittery
makeup on her face and exposed arms. She looked perfect. And beautiful. I gulped
as I thought, “Mine.”

“My God, you look beautiful Jess.”

She blushed and almost hid behind her hand. The simple gesture made
me smile. “Thank you! How does he look, Mrs. Sullivan?”

“You wouldn’t believe it, Jessica. As beautiful as you look, he looks
simply evil. He’s the perfect demon to your angel. You two look stunning!”

This time we both blushed. “Are you ready, Jess?”

“Yup, I just hope we fit in Claire’s car!”

I groaned. I hadn’t thought about that. “Maybe we should just walk.
It’s not that far. She might give us a ride home. We can take our wings off after
the dance.”

“Good Idea. Maybe you should call her.”

Ding, dong.

“Or I can just run downstairs and tell her. That’s probably her.”

“Go ahead and answer the door, honey. I’ll help Jessie down the stairs.”

I planted a quick kiss on Jessie’s cheek and took the stairs two at
a time. I forgot about Dad. He was just opening the door when I landed.

“Hi, um…”

“Claire, Dad.”

“That’s right. Hi, Claire. Come on in.” He opened the door and she
walked into the room. Things got a little weird. I happened to be looking at my
father, whose jaw dropped open as Clarisse walked into the room. I couldn’t see
Clarisse yet, so I stepped around him. My jaw hit the floor.

She looked
hot.

Her hair had gone from blonde to black. It cascaded down over her shoulders
from underneath a cone shaped witch’s hat. She held a broom in one hand and a black
cat in the other. The cat looked happy to be there, and I couldn’t blame him. I
wouldn’t have minded being there either.

Her dress made her costume perfect. Black, but so loosely knit you
could
almost
see through. It was tight in certain places and loose in others.
I wanted to reach out and touch it to see if it felt as soft as it looked. That
probably wouldn’t have been a good idea. My Dad looked like he was thinking the
same thing.
Dirty old man.

“Nice costume, Connor,” she said and gave me a funny look.

“I was just going to say the same thing to you. Always knew you were
a real witch,” I said trying to make a joke.

She cackled. I shivered.

“You two ready to go?”

“Um, there’s sort of a problem. We forgot we would be wearing wings
tonight. We’re not going to fit in your bug. Maybe we should just walk…”

“Don’t be silly. I figured it would be kind of cramped in there. I
talked Daddy into doing us a favor.”

Daddy? Favor?
I cringed at where this was going. She looked over her shoulder and
I peered beyond her to see what she motioned at. There at the curb sat a limousine.
Not just any limo. A stretch, ivory white, seats about fifty, Hummer limousine stood
shining under the streetlight in front of our house. Some guy wearing a grey suit
and funny looking hat stood by the open rear door, too.

“Nice,” I couldn’t help but say. “Yeah, I think the three of us will
fit.”

“I should hope so!” My dad forgot all about Claire and stared at the
limo.

“Go check it out, Mr. Sullivan. You should see the inside.”

He didn’t have to be asked twice. I looked down expecting little smoke
trails to be floating from where he stood to the door of the limo.

I glanced at Clarisse, and she was staring at the stairs. I turned
to see Jessie coming down holding my mom’s arm. Clarisse’s outfit became completely
forgotten. I had it bad.

“Wow, Jessica! You look beautiful.”

“Thanks, Claire. Did I hear someone say limo?”

“Yes, you did. Claire’s dad rented one for us.”

“Sweet!”

“I figured you deserved it. Come on, let’s go dance.”

I looked at Clarisse to see what she meant. She gave me a sad smile
and stepped outside the front door. I shrugged and met Mom and Jess at the bottom
of the stairs. As soon as she touched my arm my stomach started doing strange things
I don’t think had to do anything with her outfit.

Chapter 24

We walked into a graveyard. It was really the school gymnasium decorated
to look like a cemetery, but it was still creepy. I looked around and counted no
less than thirteen zombies dancing on the covered hardwood floor. They were surrounded
by seven witches, three devils, and a plethora of costumes ranging from Darth Vader
to the devil himself. The three of us looked better than all of them.
Huh, I
hope they have a costume contest this year.

“I’m going to go get some punch,” I told Jess and Claire.

Claire started laughing. “What is it with school dances, boys, and
punch? It’s like genetically encoded for you to ditch your date the moment you get
into the dance and go get fruit flavored beverages. I swear boys are morons. You
stay here with Jessica. I’ll go get the punch.”

“Thanks, Claire,” Jess said with a musical giggle. I tried to hide
behind her. “You were completely wrong about her you know. She’s one of the nicest
people I’ve ever met. Except for you of course.”

“Nice save,” I whispered in her ear and kissed it for good measure.
She laughed and bent her head to keep me from doing it more. “Oh,
somebody’s
ticklish!” I buried my face in her neck as she squealed.

“Knock it off, Sullivan.” I looked up and saw Coach Cobb standing in
front of us.

“Sorry, sir.” I straightened up but left my arms around Jess.

He nodded and moved on.

“You ready to dance?”

I looked down at Jess in horror.
Thank God, she can’t see me.
“Um,
we have punch coming.”

“Which will be here after we’ve danced a little. Come on, Connor. It
is
a dance.”

“Oh, yeah.”

I sighed, put on my big-boy pants, and led her out onto the dance floor.
I could feel hundreds of eyes on us as we began to move with the music. Okay, Jess
started moving with the music. I just fought very hard not to look epileptic. I’m
sure I failed miserably.

“You’re a good dancer,” Jess said with a smile.

“You wouldn’t be saying that if you could see me,” I said lightly trying
to make a joke. From her frown, I guess I didn’t do such a bang up job. “Sorry,
Jess,” I said and kissed her cheek.

“It’s not you. I just really wish I could see you. This is sort of
my first dance.”