Rua (Rua, book 1) (4 page)

Rylan.

She watched him, shiny black hair receding quickly in the daylight, until he was gone.

Was it possible she was seeing things again? Could it be just some guy walking around, but in jeans? No workout clothes? This early in the morning?

But it wasn’t. It couldn’t be. This was the whole “seeing things” problem she had. She dumped her coffee in the sink and went to her room to get ready for school.

A couple hours later, Celeste waited in her driveway for Tink.

He pulled up with a big wave out his open window. “Good morning!” he shouted over the sounds of his radio.

She gave him her best imitation non-crazy person smile. “Morning.” She climbed into the passenger seat.

“You okay? What did the doctor say?”

“Doc said it was just a freak thing. Won’t happen again. I’m fine.”

He tapped his steering wheel with his long fingers. “Sure, that’s perfectly normal. Right.” He took one hand off the wheel to flick her leg. “Sarcasm intended, by the way.”

“Sarcasm received and noted. I’m fine. Where’s my protein you alluded to in your text?”

“Why, I thought you would never ask.” He pulled a plastic container from under his seat.

She opened it, and examined the sloppy, but nice smelling, burrito-looking thing inside. She sniffed it. “Smells awesome.”

He smiled. “It is awesome, and it’s a protein bomb. High protein/low carb tortilla, one cup of egg whites, cheese, and tiny pieces of turkey bacon. It’s protein mixed with protein wrapped in protein. And,”—he pointed to a travel mug nudged in the cup holder against her thigh—“that is high protein soy milk.”

“Thanks. That’s the nicest thing a boy has ever done for me.”

“I know and I’m not even trying to get into your pants.” His smile stretched broader across his face. “Eat up. No more fainting today. Rylan can’t always be around to pick you up.”

She blushed, but said nothing more. Instead, she shoved the protein bomb in her face, which turned out to taste as good as it smelled.

He backed out of the driveway and began their short journey to school.

“Sooo…” he started, “You are totally the talk of the town.”

“Oh, crap. I don’t want to be. I really don’t.”

“Well you are. Talking to Rylan and falling in the most popular girl's yard on your first day, which she told everyone about, by the way. Passing out and leaving early on your second day, becoming besties with the gay kid. You are a bona fida gossip machine.”

“Well, there goes my blending-in plan.”

“Yeah, there goes.” He parked the car. “Shall we?”

“Yup.” She sped up her pace to match his long-legged gait across the parking lot. As she walked, the air became tighter, hotter.

Rylan had silently fallen into step with her. She elbowed Tink, but he was already staring.

“Hi,” she said.

Rylan didn’t look at her, but he did speak. “I’m sorry.” He was still looking forward, face partially hidden by his hair.

She stopped walking. “What?”

He stopped too, but his eyes focused on the school building ahead. “I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

“Um, what?” she said.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes.”

Without another word, he walked away.

“What was that all about?” Tink asked.

“Nothing.”

“What did he say?”

“He asked if I was okay, then he walked off.”

“That’s it?” He nudged her with his arm to get her moving again.

“Yep.”

“Hmm.” He followed her to her locker. “That’s kind of odd, you know?”

“You’re telling me.” She loaded her first-period book into her backpack.

Tink glanced over her head. “Oh. My. God.”

“What?” She followed his gaze.

It was Rylan and Jennifer. He leaned on a bank of lockers, inches away from her face. He was whispering, smiling, and flirting. Jennifer saw Celeste watching, gave her the nastiest look ever known to mankind then reached toward Rylan, running her finger down his face.

Jealousy hit Celeste hard and fast. Hot tears poked behind her eyes and she knew her face had flushed deep red.

She tore her eyes away and focused on neatly stacking her books in the bottom of the locker. The few seconds she leaned into the narrow space gave her the time she needed to rearrange her facial expression from “ouch” to “neutral.”

“What a butt-poop head,” Tink said as soon as she stood up. “Why is he all concerned and carrying you around, then he goes and flirts with STD central?”

“I don’t know.” Celeste risked another look. Jennifer was clearly a bitch, but she was beautiful. “Actually, I do know and so do you. She’s hot, and that’s okay. He can do whatever or whomever he wants.”

Tink shut her locker for her. “No, she’s not hot. If you need extensions, tons of makeup, manicures, pedicures and really expensive clothes to be hot, you’re not hot, just well-maintained.”

“Whatever, I don’t care. He can do whatever he wants.” She paused in front of the computer lab.

“Right. You don’t care, he’s not your man, blah blah blah.” He lowered his voice. “I saw the look on your face. It’s okay. You like him. I get it.”

“Whatever, see you in English.”

“Girl, please.”

She selected a computer in the very back of the class. She’d already noted in her first couple days Mrs. Cash never walked to the back of the room. Her large girth pretty much trapped her in the front of the classroom. She logged onto the computer as Mrs. Cash started her lecture.

“Okay, everyone. Boot up, please. Anyone need help logging on to the computer?” Mrs. Cash paced the front of the room in her blue mu-mu style dress.

Celeste fought back the urge to roll her eyes. Duh.

She opened the spreadsheet program and tried to follow along with the lecture. She’d already learned all this crap eons ago. A quick look around the room and it was clear at least half the class pretended to pay attention, but really surfed the net.

She double-clicked on the web browser, which defaulted to a search engine. She stared at the blank box while she tried to remember what the strange voice had said.

She typed “Rua” first, then hit enter.

Celtic for red, usually referring to hair
was the first entry.

She clapped her hand over her mouth and pushed back her chair a few inches.

“Celeste? Is everything okay?” Mrs. Cash stared her down from the front of the room, as were the rest of the students.

Celeste scooted her chair back up to her station and cleared her throat. “Sorry, I’m fine. Spider on my desk.”

“Okay, dear.”

Celeste stared at Mrs. Cash for a few minutes so it seemed like she was paying attention, but she didn’t hear a word.

She was too busy freaking out. The voice had called her Celeste, Rua and whatever else. It was not in her head, because she had no idea what the word “Rua” was until today. It was something else. Some third party. And they called her “red.”

She returned her attention to her screen. She typed “Oscale en doras.” The browser asked her, “Did you mean Oscail an doras?” She clicked yes before she lost her nerve.

“Irish Gaelic for ‘open the door.’ ”

What?

She took out a notebook and wrote the information down with shaking fingers. Whatever that voice was, it was spoke Gaelic Irish, which she didn’t know, couldn’t know. Which meant something intelligent was attempting to communicate with her, which meant…

The bell rang before she could finish the thought. She happily let it go. She wasn’t ready to travel down that path just yet. She flipped her notebook shut, deleted her web-surfing history then headed to her next class.

***

The lunchroom was crowded, but Tink managed to cut in front of twenty people without ticking them off so he could stand next to her.

“What do they have today?” His fingers jumped over his phone, his eyes glued to the tiny screen.

“Aliens,” she responded.

“Great.”

She laughed then poked his arm.

“What’s so funny?” He snapped the keyboard back in this phone.

“You’re not paying attention, Mr. Cell Phone.”

“Guilty. I was texting a cute boy, so I get a pass.”

She grabbed a piece of pizza from the cafeteria worker for her plate, then another for Tink. “Pass for sure. Who is this boy?”

“I’m not ready to talk about him just yet. He’s too new.”

“Fair enough.”

They chose a spot at the end of a table. She was still new enough people openly stared at her as she went about her day.

She glanced around the room that somehow contained all of the students. Her eyes came to rest on Rylan. He sat next to Jennifer. She’d pushed her sleeves up and unbuttoned the top button on her cardigan, but Rylan wasn’t watching her. He watched Celeste.

Her head pounded in pain when their eyes locked. She kept her gaze focused on him, determined to ignore the pain and stay conscious. Rylan looked down at his plate, rubbed his temple then looked back up at her. The pain throbbed, but faded with each heartbeat.

He stared, and she stared, neither one of them willing to stop.

Tink interrupted her thoughts. “What are you doing? He’s sitting with megabitch, not you. Don’t look at him.”

She turned away from Rylan. “He was staring at me, wasn’t he?”

“Um, yeah. Stalker style. I’m starting to dislike the boy, even though he is pretty.”

She took a bigger than necessary bite of her pizza. She couldn’t tell Tink she’d gotten headaches from Rylan…sometimes.

She managed to get through the rest of day without anymore pain-inducing glimpses of the newest school couple. When the final bell rang, she stopped off at her locker to dump her books then rushed towards the exit with her head down.

She practically charged through the doors and ran into Tink, hard.

“Ow, mini-me. What the hell?” he said.

“Sorry.”

“Shush! Do you hear that?” he asked.

She stopped, listened, and did hear it. Squawks and calls filling the air.

“What is that?” she asked.

“Look around you!”

The parking lot was full of students, as usual, but they weren’t getting in their cars. They were frozen in place, sunglasses on, staring at the sky.

She looked up, already knowing what she’d find. Every single tree, power line, and rooftop in sight was covered with crows. Their sounds filled the air.

“This reminds me of,” — Tink paused, tapping his forehead with his finger — “you know, that one with all the birds, old-school movie?”

“I have to go.” Her throat was dry, and she had to force the words out.

She walked as fast as she could. When she reached the edge of the parking lot, she ran. None of the kids were paying attention to her anyways.

She ran out of the parking lot, away from Tink, and away from the strange black birds.

Chapter 5

She slowed to a walk when she came to her street. She pulled down one of her shirt sleeves and used it to wipe the tears off her face. She knew without looking up the stupid birds were in the trees lining the street, probably all the way to her house.

“Celeste, wait!”

It was Rylan, starting down the same road she was on.

She kept walking. She didn’t want to talk to him, but he was next to her in an instant.

“Hey,” he said. “I need to talk to you.”

“How’d you do that?”

He used his fingers to push his hair off his forehead. “Do what?”

“One second you’re behind me, like way behind me, the next you’re here.” She hugged herself and stepped away from him. It was defensive, but she was awkward and stupid around him.

He leaned in. “You really don’t know?”

“Know what? Isn’t Jennifer waiting for you?” The instant the words left her lips, she wanted to take them back. She had no right to be jealous, and she didn’t like that she was.

He took a step back. “I’ve heard your parents are black. Is that true?”

“Excuse me?” He looked shocked, but she pressed on. “Why the hell are you asking me that?”

“Are you adopted, Celeste? Please, it’s important.” He stood in front of her in his slim jeans, tousled hair, and green-eyed glory. It wasn’t fair he was still freakin’ hot even when he was a jerk.

“Yes, I’m adopted. My parents happen to be black.”

“Oh. I was worried about that.” He kicked at a nearby leaf.

“Screw you. They’re the best people in the world.” She walked away without another glance in his direction.

“Wait!” he called from behind. In a few long strides, he caught up to her, using his hand to stop her from moving forward. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sure they’re wonderful.”

She stopped moving, trying to ignore the influx of pleasant heat that came along with his touch.

“This,” — he gestured at the birds in the trees above them — “is going to get worse. Stay strong. I’ll be ready when you are.” He dropped her arm and walked away from her, back to the direction of the school.

“What does that mean? I don’t understand!” she called to his receding back. She dared another look up at the trees. They were still filled with black birds. Mothers, fathers and children milled around in their front lawns, pointing at the sky, taking pictures.

She kept walking until she came to her house. Her mom stood in the yard, apron on, eyes glued to the trees. Her dad came out behind her, resting an arm on his much shorter wife.

“Ce Ce!” he said when he saw her.

“Hey, Dad.”

“Are you seeing this? This is some crazy stuff, right?”

Black birds clung like ice to every possible surface; branches of trees, eaves of houses, gutters, and even the cars.

“Weird,” she agreed, without meeting his eyes.

“Do you see the weirdest part? They end at our house. See? They aren’t any further down on this side, but on this side,” — he pointed down the road towards the school — “they go on and on. Did you see them walking home from school?” He raised his voice so she could hear him over the birds.

She walked to the edge of her lawn. Sure enough, there weren’t any birds to be seen off to the right, but to the left, in the direction of her school, they were everywhere. Starting at the school, ending at her home.
They’re here for me.