Ruby Rising (9 page)

Sighing, I plonked myself on the end of my bed and gave her my best
whatever!
normal, not saying a thing.

“I know you didn’t touch the knife, but that doesn’t change the fact that it flew off the bench all by itself. We both know that can’t happen.” I watched as my mother began her own pacing in my room, and she was right, it was annoying. “So, what happened down there?”

“Maybe it was a big gust of wind.” I suggested, I just wanted her to leave me alone for a while, I was still angry at her for not trusting me, even though I had done the wrong thing. I hadn’t meant it, I hadn’t known until we were nearly there, and I didn’t want to ask him to take me home.

“Has anything else odd happened lately, honey?” I slowly shook my head, not wanting another lie to come out of my mouth, but also not wanting to tell her about the DVD player at Scott’s. I definitely didn’t need to tell her what we were doing when it decided to smoke up half the lounge room. She paused for a second and considered my answer. She didn’t looked convinced but didn’t say anything. “If anything else happens, even if you think it’s not important, will you let me know?” Her eyes pleaded with my own but it was a promise I knew I couldn’t keep.

“I’m pretty sure nothing like that will ever happen again Mum. It was just an accident.”

“Hmmm, like the window.” She left the room without another word and I lay back onto the bed and looked at the ceiling.

After a few minutes I pulled on a black t-shirt and pants and pulled on my combat boots. I was going out, I needed to see Scott. To feel him against me, feel his current that runs into my skin.

I grabbed my purse and my phone and walked downstairs, I found my mother in the kitchen trying to pull the knife out of the fridge.

“I’m going out, to youth group. I’ll be home by eleven.” Without waiting for an answer, I looked away from her and walked out.

I kept walking, not paying attention to the direction I was walking in. My head whirled with different scenarios for what was happening around me, none of them were my idea of a sane person’s explanation. Maybe that was it, maybe I was actually screwed in the head. My hands were still balled up in fists to stop them from shaking when Scott pulled up alongside me sometime later. I had walked right to the edge of town, the last of the houses just behind me.

“Going without me?” His eyes twinkled and his dimples seemed deeper than ever.

“It’s not even time to go yet!” I kept walking as he drove slowly next to me.

“Ruby? What’s wrong? I just went to your house to pick you up and your Mum said you’d already left. She said you had a fight.” He stopped the car, got out and stood in front of me to stop me. I pushed against him.

“Trust me, you do not want to make me mad Scott.” I pushed harder on his chest and he stumbled but kept his balance.

“Ruby! Just stop!” He yelled in my face, the shock forcing me to stop. He quickly grabbed hold of my shoulders to stop me from pushing him again.

This time I felt it coming, building from my toes, through my legs, into my stomach. Growing, intensifying, until I pushed at Scott to get him out of the way and held my hands up.

Scott tripped over his feet and landed on his backside as the street lamp from above fell in between us.

“I told you not to make me mad!” I fell to my knees, tears streaming down my face, my hands still pulsing. “Just stay away from me Scott! Don’t you see? There is something seriously wrong with me!”

I felt Scott behind me pulling me into his lap and let him gently rock me back and forth. The steady rhythm helped calm me down. We sat on the side of the road for a full ten minutes before he spoke.

“There’s nothing wrong with you Ruby, you’re just different.” He turned me in his lap and tilted my head up to face him. “There is nothing wrong with you, trust me.” His eyes were shining with concern, but I could tell he was holding back.

“You know don’t you? You know what’s happening to me!” I stood up, looking down at him, trying to keep myself calm.

“If you get in the car, we can get you some answers. I only know a little.” His answer was honest and I decided that walking away at this point would leave me with more questions than answers. I silently walked to the running car and slammed the door.

I looked out the window and realised that I’d walked at least four kilometres from home, yet I felt like I had just walked out of the driveway.

“Why didn’t you call me?” Scott asked as he got in the car and drove off. “I would have come and got you.”

“What do you know?” I asked quietly, ignoring his question. When he reached for my hand I roughly brushed it off.

“Ruby…” His voice was pained, unsure, I’d never heard his voice so full of what seemed like fear. “You need to understand, that I didn’t know at first, when I fell for you. I just put it together at school the other day.”

“
What
do you know?” I growled at him, repeating my question with barely disguised anger.

“There are legends around here, apparently passed on to every generation.” He pulled up outside the youth group hall and turned the car off. Taking off his seatbelt he turned to face me. “That one day a girl would come and she would have abilities, passed onto her from previous generations. The story would change from Superman talents to ESP and mind reading, depending on who was telling it. There is even a version that features angels from heaven and demons from the pits of hell.” His eyes gazed out the window thoughtfully for a few long minutes. “My mother told me that one day I would meet someone special. I just didn’t realise how special.” He reached for my hands and I let him take both of them between his own.

“And you think
I’m
that something special, huh?” My voice was both incredulous and flat, I started to have trouble breathing.

“Calm down Ruby, it’s okay! Everything will be okay.” He kept talking to me until my breath became even again. “And yes, I do think you are special, I think that you have gifts that you are only beginning to see the depths of.”

“You call nearly stabbing my mother with a knife that I never touched a
gift
? I could have killed her!” Tears streamed down my face, I wiped them away angrily I’d cried enough tears since moving to Primfield. “Ever since I got here, it’s pretty much been one drama after another.”

“You need to learn how to control it, to know when you need to back down. Does it only happen when you’re angry?” He asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe, but how will I know for sure? I don’t want to just randomly try making myself feel something to just see if anything happens. Someone could get seriously hurt.” I sighed not sure if I really wanted to be here. “What is this legendary girl supposed to do, anyway?”

“I never really heard that part, only the part where I was told I’d get to meet her, that she would mean something to me. Just come inside for a little while, I can always take you home if you want to a bit later.” Scott got out of the car and walked around to my side, opening the door for me. “Madame.”

“Trying to make me laugh?” I asked, a small smile playing at the corners of my mouth.

“Only if it’s working.” He smiled gently at me, I looked up into his eyes and blinked. They were blue, not just blue but a beautiful royal blue. I stood up and grabbed his face as he blinked and looked at me leaning in for a kiss.

“Your eyes!” I pulled away and looked into his now green eyes. This time there was no phone to illuminate them.

“What about them?” He gave me a chaste kiss on the mouth, testing the waters, before going in for a more passionate one.

I turned my head at the last second, deflecting his advance. “They were blue! This time I know what I saw, Scott. Are you even listening to me?” My pulse quickened as he kissed and sucked softly on my neck. He murmured something into the hollow at the base of my throat, I couldn’t understand him and the vibrations of his voice almost had my knees going week. After a few seconds of his persistence I gave in to the passion coursing through my body and closed my eyes, letting the sensations assaulting me take over.

“Are you two love birds coming in here or what? We’ve been waiting for ages.” Mikayla’s voice interrupted the delicious spread of warmth spreading through me.

We pulled apart and as usual I blushed, leaning into Scott for support.

“It’s not even seven Mikayla.” Scott answered the now empty doorway. “Come on, she’s impatient tonight. Let’s go in and unwind.”

I couldn’t even begin to think about how to unwind, my head was filled with too many questions. I had a feeling that Scott hadn’t told me everything he knew, but I knew that I wouldn’t get my answers tonight, not here anyway.

When we walked in the room it was again alight with candles, scatter cushions were everywhere, bean bags as well. Scott guided me gently by my elbow up to the same spot on the little raised floor as we had sat previously, I looked up to see that the speakers had been moved, the beam fixed and I let myself relax. 

“As usual let’s begin with a prayer.” Mikayla lit a large black candle that sat on a pedestal in the middle of the raised floor. “Thank you for bringing us all together, we are your humble servants as always.”

The candles flared around the room, no one had moved and no doors had been opened. I watched Mikayla intently.

“If you are happy with the gifts we have provided please let us know so that we may serve you better in the future.” A small pause and again, the flames flickered, the black candle’s flame rising half a metre in the air before returning to its base. I was having trouble understanding what was happening, but I was no longer surprised by it. That didn’t change the fact that it still freaked me out. “Thank you for letting us know of your pleasure Great Star.” Looking up Mikayla spoke to those in the room then looked directly at me. “Please thank our Great Star for the protection and strength
He
gives each of you. We thank you
Great Star
, we are your humble servants.”

Feeling completely powerless to ignore her request I joined the rest of the room with a monotone response, Mikayla smiled as she watched me carefully didn’t quite reach her eyes. To me it was more of a smirk. “Thank you Great Star, we are your humble servants.”  I felt Scott’s arms entwining around my waist, his hand flicking across my breasts. I didn’t know whether he was trying to distract me but it worked. I gasped and drew in a sharp breath. I turned my head to look into his eyes and flicked my tongue across my lips. ‘
Oh my God Ruby
,’ I thought to myself, ‘
what the hell are you doing
?’ I shook my head to try and push away the power of our attraction and when I looked back around the room I realised that everyone had started to talk quietly. All the candles had been extinguished and I could smell their unusual scent floating in the air. I stood up quickly and excused myself to go to the bathroom. Before Scott could react, I took off towards the back of the hall, found the toilets off the foyer and locked myself into the disabled one.

My breath was coming fast, I turned the water on full force and splashed myself in the face. Grateful that I wasn’t wearing any makeup to smear when I looked in the mirror at my pale face. Alarmed I stepped backwards and slipped on to the floor, the mirror smashed loudly above me and I put my hand in front of my face to protect it. When the last piece had fallen, I felt the familiar pull of energy in my hands and I knew that
I
had smashed the mirror. Looking into the sink I stared at the water that was full of shattered mirror and started picking out pieces. I picked out a few pieces from my hair, hoping I had gotten it all. The water moved around my fingers, I suddenly realised that it was swirling around them, I pushed both my hands into the full sink and pulled them out completely dry. None of the water had touched them.

“Ruby!” I heard Scott’s voice as he banged on the door. “Ruby are you okay?”

Pulling myself together I unlocked the door and forced a smile onto my face. “I’m fine, the mirror broke though. Sorry, I threw my shoe at it and smashed it.”

Scott didn’t looked convinced as he looked over my shoulder into the room. “But you’re okay, right? You didn’t get any glass on you, did you cut yourself?”

“I’m
fine
Scott, really.” I didn’t know why I just didn’t tell him about the water, he already knew what I could do, even more than I did myself. “Come on, let’s join everybody else before I become the new
weird
girl in town.”

I pulled him along with me, and followed the sound of music into the main hall. I noticed Mikayla in the front corner, she looked at me and smiled. I’m pretty sure I’d never seen her really smile before. This one was different to the others. It reached her eyes, making her look even more beautiful than she already was. Maybe I was growing on her after all.

Scott and I spent the rest of the night talking, dancing and making out. He tried to mention the bathroom again but I managed to distract him with a kiss or by sashaying off to dance. That move had him dancing up behind me, forgetting all about the questions that he had.

I listened with vague attention to Mikayla’s announcements about youth group activities. She reminded everyone about the camping trip at the end of term and that without parent permission slips you couldn’t go. I wondered if my parents would agree to something like that. They had become more relaxed with me going out and I had a later curfew now. But I still wasn’t convinced they would let me go on a co-ed camping trip. I grabbed a form and folded it into my pocket. I could at least put the idea to them and let them decide. At ten we left and I asked Scott to go to the lake so we could talk.