Disclaimer: I don't own The Covenant, just my OC.
Hear No Evil
01
This Is A Dark Ride
The smell of wet sand and Mike's Hard Lemonade ripples through my nose. I brush a lock of hair away from my eyes and tilt my face up to see the stars. Their glow is diluted, blurry from the post lights stationed all around the party site. Of all places to hold a bonfire, it has to be the dirtiest place in Massachusetts. I'm not a party girl - none whatsoever. We have bad history together. Sure, alcohol makes things fun at first, but then drunk words turn into sober thoughts and somebody ends up hearing something they shouldn't have.
Ever since the infamous Halloween rave of 2003, I always steer clear of suspicious alcohol mixes and random guys offering you a plastic red cup of God knows what's been slipped in there. I learned that the hard way when a member of the football team popped a sedative in my rum and coke, but thankfully my other friend Rachel caught the glaze in my eyes and pulled me to safety before I blacked out in a stranger's arms. Not every person is that lucky.
People just can't be trusted. I guess that's why I prefer sticking to a smaller crowd. Lesser chances of getting hurt.
And tonight is my first gathering without my boyfriend Cole.
Well...ex-boyfriend.
"Want another beer?" Kate asks me, raising her voice over the DJ's scatting. The glimmer from the flames makes her skin look as smooth as marble. I shake my head, holding a quarter full bottle in my left hand. The bitter liquid sloshes uneasily in my stomach and I keep my lips tightly sealed so I don't upchuck all over my vans. Another swig and I'd end up spending the night under a toilet lid.
"Nah, I'm good," I answer and carefully tip my bottle when she's not looking and empty the remaining contents onto the soil. When the last drop splashes on a little pebble, I drop the bottle and kick it into a bundle of burned out sticks, hoping nobody heard the clink, but everyone continues to dance, much to my relief.
It's so weird...being alone. I don't regret me and Cole's breakup, not at all. He isn't the person I thought he was. But it left me with an almost numbing aftereffect. Being with a guy for so long sort inhibits how you act alone in a large mass of people. I feel unarmed, vulnerable. Moreso than I was when we were still together. He blamed me a lot when things just didn't go his way and our fights lasted for days, until one of us mucked the maturity to contact the other and apologize. Then things went back to being okay.
For a while.
After some months, 'okay' just wasn't good enough for me. I was tired of feeling like my effort to make things better wasn't enough. He seemed satisfied with just spending time with me - there's was always something he complained about, something to nitpick.
So I did what every girl should do. I dumped his ass.
"There you are!" A petite, blonde girl skips up to us. I've never seen her before, but she seems to know Kate. "I've been looking everywhere for you! You didn't tell me this place was such a mosh."
Kate laughs, tossing a lock of dark hair over her shoulder. "I thought you've been to parties before."
"Yeah, well, nothing like this," the girl explains and her eyes fall to me. She sticks out her hand politely. "Hi, I'm Sarah."
As I shake her hand, Kate fumbles to introduce me. "Oh, sorry! I forgot you two haven't met. Sarah, this is my friend Cora. We've known each other since we were nine."
I smile and let go of Sarah's hand. "Nice to meet you."
"You too," she says nicely. "So, give me the scoop. Who's here?"
Kate pulls Sarah close. "Okay, the first thing you have to know is that Aaron Abbott is a prick. Treats girls like dirt," she tells her, pointing at the shaggy haired boy standing several feet away. He has the word 'douchebag' stamped all over him. Someone needs to remind him that his 90's boy band hair cut has gotta go - there's only one person that can pull of the jerry curl and unfortunately, Aaron's name is not Justin.
"Yeah, once he cut a hole in the girl's showers and videotaped it, then posted it online," l add solemnly. "It's a cruel world."
Sarah's mouth drops open. "No way," she deadpans.
I nod. "It's true. That's why the dropout percentage was so high last year."
"That's sick," Sarah shakes her head and scans the crowd. "Who's that?" Kate and I turn to where's she's looking, spotting a tall, slim boy ambling through the crowd by himself. He's attractive. Too attractive not to have a date. There's always something off about that.
"New guy," Kate flutters. She smiles from ear to ear. I know that look all too well. She's probably picturing what he looks like naked. Tsk tsk. Shameful.
"Ooh, he's looking over here," Sarah chimes in. They look like slobbering rottweilers outside of a butcher's meat shop. Can they make it anymore obvious? I sigh and tuck back a strand of fly away hair. Putting up with one boy crazy friend is enough. How can I handle two?
"Don't know much about him," Kate murmurs. "But I intend to find out."
I playfully elbow her in the ribs. "Uh, hello. You have a boyfriend."
She jerks back slightly and giggles. "Who isn't here yet," she retorts. And who I still haven't met, I think. She claims to have met him during summer break, but I have yet to see Mr. Wonderful in the flesh. Why is he such a secret?
Sarah laughs at us, still watching the mystery boy as he glides through the horde. "He's cute," she observes. Kate and I nod in agreement. Someone bumps into my shoulder, almost knocking me to the ground, but I catch myself in time and whirl around to tell whatever magnificently graceful person to watch where they're going, but Kate's awe struck voice catches my attention and reels me back in.
"They're here," she breathes, staring into the distance. I try to distinguish what they see through the fog, but it's thick.
"Who are they?" Sarah inquires. She sounds just as enthralled. Great. I guess I know who's driving us home tonight. Hormonal women should not operate machinery.
"The Sons of Ipswich."
The name is foreign to me and leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, like cough syrup. Why didn't I hear of these boys before? Gossip travels fast down the grapevine at Spenser. Then again, I never lend much ear to it anyways. I never even stay at the dorms on the weekends. A person can only take so much terms papers and bad lunch meat. I shake my head to clear my muddled thoughts and squint slightly when four shapes saunter closer. They're young, maybe a year or two older than us and dress mostly in black. A very Bram Stoker feel.
Most of them have short hair, dark in color, except for one blonde with a peculiar glint in his eyes. His nails are painted black that almost look deep purple by the firelight. Another has near shoulder length hair, dark brown, smooth looking and supports a leather jacket. He's handsome, features more chiseled and mature than the other three and broad in the shoulders. When his eyes lock with mine, I feel my face flush with blood, like I'm locked in a sauna. My hands curl into loose fists, sweat forming at the creases of my palms. Oh, come on, get it together, I chastise myself. He's not the only cute boy you've seen. But it sure feels like it is. Must some kind of occult mind trick.
"Hey, Kate," the second tallest guy greets.
"Caleb," Kate greets, breaking my trance. I blink once and glance at the boy she's addressing. He's more baby faced the rest, but still cute. Kate runs up to the one in leather and wraps her arms around him. So this must be the boyfriend I've heard so much about. "Hi!" She says and kisses him chastely. "You're late."
"I had a thing with the family," the boyfriend answers. His voice is deeper than I expect. "Who's this?" He asks, turning to me. He glances at Sarah for a second before flicking his gaze back to me. His expression is unreadable.
"My friend Cora. And this is my new roommate Sarah," Kate introduces us and points out to each boy. "This is Pogue Parry, Tyler Simms, Reid-"
"Garwin," the blonde pipes in. "Reid Garwin." He holds out his hand for me to shake and I do. "Good evening," he says politely. I raise my eyebrows and share a look with Sarah as she also shakes his steady hand. Did we just drop into the eighteenth century? No one has this amount of decorum. Unless you took ballroom classes when you were younger.
As he blathers on about his grandma, my gaze shifts over to each young man, pausing on Kate's boyfriend, Pogue.
Pogue.
Huh. What a weird name. It must be an alias. Or his parents has a really bizarre preference for personal identities. He's so much cuter than I first thought, now I see him in proper lighting. And tall. Very tall. He dwarfs Kate and she's a whole three inches taller than me. And his arms...they look huge, even from under the bulk of his jacket.
Oh, jeez, stop, I tell myself. This is your friend's man. Have some mental manners. Respect the girl code.
I guess I must be staring longer than I thought because after a minute or two, his sights flit down to me. His eyes are brooding, but they melt a few degrees and the corners of his full lips twist up into a smirk. Our eyes weld together for a moment, and something that feels like familiarity grows in my chest, but I know it must be faux. I just met this guy. I definitely haven't seen him before. Have I...? My stomach flips by the fervor in his gaze and I immediately break contact, just in time to see a curly haired girl bounce toward our group. Kira. She bats her fake eyelashes at the guy Sarah was eye sexing.
"Hey, Caleb," she purrs, attempting to sound seductive, but it just comes out as desperate.
Caleb's tone is formal, like she's his accountant. "Kira."
"How was your summer?" She prods.
Caleb appears apprehensive. "Um-" he begins, but Kira pivots toward Sarah before he can finish, eyes narrowed territorially. It always confuses me why us girls are so inherently catty, sometimes for no logical reason. I guess it's just in our makeup, though some are more akin to it than others.
"I'm Kira," the red head says.
"Sarah."
"Oh, right. From the Boston public," Kira spits out, as if attending a lesser prestige school is the equivalent to committing mass slaughter. "Tell me, how does one go about getting into Spenser from a public?"
I bite the inside of my cheek, but my tongue is too strong to ward off. It takes free reign. "Shouldn't you be giving the Freshman a handy behind the ice bins or something?" I snap. Somebody stifles a chuckle and I realize it's Pogue.
Kira scowls at me. "I don't think I was talking to you."
Caleb sighs. "Why don't you give it a rest, Kira?"
Aaron steps in, like he's actually intimidating. His threats sound like a cat trying to choke itself to death more than anything else. "Why don't you give it a rest?"
I roll my eyes, wishing I still had that beer bottle in my hand. They make pretty decent last minute defense weapons, in case things got ugly real quick. "Nice comeback," I say, sliding my hands in the pockets of my jacket. The chilly air numbs my fingertips.
"I don't want any trouble, Aaron," Caleb states earnestly.
"I'm sure you don't," the curly haired douche insinuates. They stare each other down for a good full minute and I swear one of them is about to start throwing punches and I back up one pace so I don't get caught in the whirlwind of testosterone. But another boy pipes in right when I think it's about to explode.
"You posers make me want to puke," a meathead minion insults.
Reid almost jumps him. He has sort of a rabid look in his eyes. He must be the trouble maker of the pack, the kind that sprays graffit on brick walls and tapes 'kick me' signs to people's backs. "Is that right, boy?" He hisses. For a second, I really think he's going to succeed in clobbering him. Though, Caleb calmly restrains him.
"I think you owe Kira an apology," Aaron has the guile to say.
I bark out a laugh. "Seriously? Raggedy Ann came up to us. We don't owe her anything."
Caleb nods in agreement. "Actually, I think Kira owes Sarah the apology."
Aaron goes silent, smiling without humor, but it disappears just as quickly as it came. He shoves Caleb's chest, making the taller boy stumble. A hand flies up to my mouth, lips parting beneath my lint flecked fingers and I scamper backwards in case the whole thing turns into a WWE crackdown. The last I witnessed a fight, I got blood on the hem of my favorite jeans that not even my mom could get out with her homemade cleaning remedy. I expect bodily fluid to spill again tonight. But it doesn't.
Another guy hops in between them, forcing temporary peace. It's the dude Sarah and Kate were creeping on earlier. He laughs it off like the entire ordeal is an acted scene from an old sitcom. "Sorry, but you were being kind of bitchy," he tells Kira, more seriously.
I cackle and catch her attention, her eyes narrowing into small cat-like slits. Oh, she looks pissed. It just makes me smile wider. She got what she deserves. Oh, the sweet feel of justice.
Suddenly, Aaron's friend doubles over and hurls all over him. I let out a semi shriek and scramble away in haste to protect my new clean shoes. The stench of Bud Lite and chilli fries wafers through my nostrils and I bring my jacket sleeve up to cover my sensitive senses, stomach bubbling from seeing the sun yellow bile dripping down Aaron's coat. Normally, I'd be laughing myself into hysteria, but this is just revolting. I'll never look at mustard the same way again. I might even fast for the next two days. That or live off a diet consisting of smoothies for the next week or so.
The DJ takes a hold of the speaker. "Guys, Dylan just called. He said he saw three cop cars headed this way on Old Dell Road."
Everyone knows that that means. We have ten minutes to get the hell out of dodge. In a flurry, Kate grabs my arm and leads me with her through the crowd of bumbling youths. I trip and stumble all the way to the woodland border, but lose Kate when a group of Jocks ram into my back, making me lose contact with her. She calls for me and I see her hand reach out to find me again, but she ends getting swallowed by the stampede and we're separated. I yell her name, but she doesn't answer. She probably can't even hear me. Great. I'm on my own now. I push past the throng of drunken schoolmates and try to spot my car in the clouded atmosphere, but it's difficult to pinpoint. Teens shout around me for their friends and race to safety.
I jog toward the areas where moonlight shines through the thick branches and leaves, skimming the area for a single flash of my grey Toyota. I know I parked it right along here...
Police sirens shoot off behind me and I whip my head around to check if any patrols are riding our tails, but thankfully there's none. The path to my car is clear and threat free. But the woods are so shrouded by blackness, I can hardly see where I put each footstep until the bottom of my shoes actually hit solid ground, or a protruding object that makes me stumble. And that's exactly what happens. My shoelace snags on the sharp end of a smashed beer bottle and sends me tumbling to the ground. My head bangs against something hard and dull and sends my world temporary inanimate. It feels like the entirety of earth is dancing to dubstep music. Dipping and swaying.
My fingers curl around slick leaves and I feel warm liquid trickle down my temple. It drips past my lips and a droplet coats my tongue. It's blood. My head is cut and I can't see straight.
"Ow," I mutter and try to sit up, but it makes my forehead throb with pain. I hear people stampede around me, rushing to get into their cars before the cops find out where we've fled to. "Kate?" I croak for my friend, hoping she's close by, but my voice goes unheard.
Then someone else acknowledges me.
"Cora?"
I don't realize who it is until heavy footfalls stomp all the way to me and a callused hand touches my arm.
I look up at the handsome face. It's Kate's boyfriend, but she is nowhere in sight. She must have left already with Sarah.
"Pogue?" I say, the words slurred.
"Yeah, it's me," his bass voice rumbles. "What happened to you?"
"I don't know," I murmur. "I tripped and...well," I hold out a hand that's dabbled with blood.
"Shit," he curses lowly, sounding at a loss. I glance up at him again and he's staring me like he's trying to figure out what to do. I don't really need much assistance. If he'd only help me to my feet, I could get to my car on time. Maybe by then, my eyesight will clear and I can drive without smashing into a tree.
"Pogue!" Another male voice yips from a big, dark car. It sounds like Reid. "Let's go!"
I wipe the blood spatter from my the back of my head and struggle to stand up. "Just go. I'll be- hey!" My sentence gets cut off when I feel myself being swung into strong, sturdy arms. Soft leather brushes against my cheek. "What are you doing?" I demand, heartbeat blipping in surprise, but it begins to calm when I feel his stride carry me to safety. Maybe he's taking me back to my car.
But I see the thick outline of his friend's vehicle.
Maybe not.
"I told you I'll be fine," I protest.
"How do expect to drive when you can barely walk?" He shoots back.
"Uh..." is all I manage to say.
Pogue smirks. "There we go."
"Just leave her, man," a male voice says, but I can't tell who it is. My head comes to rest against Pogue's chest. It eases the thumping in my skull.
"She's bleeding," he says defensively.
"And that's our problem?"
"Shut up and open the door," he snaps at someone. I hear the back door click open and feel myself lower down on cold cushions. Somebody else hops in with me and the door closes shut again.
"Cora," A deep voice says guardedly. It's Caleb. "Can you hear me?"
"Sort of," I mutter and creak one eye open. Everything is clouded, but the shapes I can make out are clearer than before. "Where am I?"
"You're okay. We're gonna take you home," Caleb says simply. I don't press on the fact that he avoided my question. My head hurts too much to think. I see him and Pogue sitting on either side of me in the backseats, concern twinging their brows. Being sandwiched between them makes me fidget nervously. This is any teenaged girl's dream, yet I feel like a fish out of water.
"I would've been fine driving myself home," I tell them.
"As gentlemen, we can't let a girl drive under the influence," Reid says and starts the car. His stupid grin makes me want to sock him in the jaw. It's a good thing he's cute.
I use the sleeve of my jacket to mop the blood from my face. "I'm not even drunk."
Tyler sits at the passenger side, but his gaze is also trained on my face. "Jesus. What happened to your head?" He asks curiously, noticing the mess caked in my hair. There still must be some blood painting my face and hair. I probably look like I just crawled out of a swamp.
"I'm not a very graceful person," I answer, adjusting my cramped position.
"You don't get car sick, do you?" Reid inquires, taking the steering wheel. He glances at me through the rear view mirror.
I give him a weird look. "No...why?"
He just smirks and switches the gear shift. "Buckle up, sweetheart." I part my lips to answer, but he floors the gas pedal, sending us flying through the woods, narrowly missing branches scraping against the windows. I try to hold on to the edge of the seats, but I'm thrashing around like a wet noodle. My shoulder repeatedly smacks into Pogue's chest.
We're driving so fast, I can't tell what direction we're going or if we're still in the woods or not. Everything flits by in a swirl of pine green and coal black. Police sirens wail in the distance. They're catching on to our trail. At this point, we'll either drive ourselves off a cliff or get thrown into the slammer. Great. What did I get myself into? I should have just crawled home. That would have been less danger inducing.
Blue and cherry lights reflect off the windshield and I glance behind us to see a lone cop car chasing us down. The boys laugh with excitement. Aren't they the least bit scared we'll get into an accident? I know I am.
Reid accepts the challenge to outspeed them. "No sweat!" He steps harder on the pedal and takes a right hand turn, spinning us west.
But the cops are relentless. With each mile we put between us, they cover it just as quickly.
"We gotta pull over," Caleb laments.
"Oh, you wanna stop? That'll impress Harvard," Reid teases.
After a moment of thought, Caleb gives in. "All right, what the hell? Let's lose them. Hey, cut across Marblehead. We might as well have some fun."
I run both hands through my hair, clutching chunks in disbelief. "You guys are crazy." And I'm definitively going to die tonight. Any second, we'll be forced to hit the breaks and I'll go soaring through the windshield and break my neck. Or the car can overturn and we'd all be crushed. The possibilities are endless. At least my parents have the funds to afford a burial plot.
Tyler grins at me. "It's the only way we stay sane." God, if this makes them normal, then what am I?
"Lose them!" Pogue says when the sirens blare closer. Reid makes another sharp turn, and zips through the foliage. It looks like we're heading out of forest borders. Maybe I'll actually make it out of here alive.
Maybe.
"Step on it. Go!" Tyler exclaims.
"All right, guys, you ready?" Reid says.
"Come on, Caleb. It's gonna take all of us," Pogue adds solemnly.
"Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" I chime in, confused. What's on the other side of the dense fog? And why won't they tell me?
Tyler tries to console me. "We're just taking a detour." By the look on his face, he knows I don't buy it. I wasn't born yesterday - I know when I'm being lied to. And from the way we're zooming across a rocky surface, through milky fog, says that these guys don't exactly have the best judgement plans.
"You might wanna cover your eyes," Pogue advises me.
"Why?" I ask.
"Just do it," he replies curtly.
I glance at Caleb and he nods at, sincerity in his eyes. It's hard to distrust a person that gives off such genuine waves. So I turn back to the windshield and shut my eyes, lowering my head a little so locks of my hair fall over my shoulder like a sheer curtain. I feel the car accelerate and suddenly, it pitches forward, gliding through air as if the ground disappeared from under the wheels. I gasp, a tingling sensation surging through my whole body, but keep my eyes closed. Whatever is happening, I don't want to see it.
Arms envelope around me when the car shakes violently, holding me still and tight against a solid chest. I feel leather and I know it's Pogue. The prickling of my skin intensifies, as if some type of shield is being summoned around me. The car goes stagnant for a second then slams back into solid ground, tires spinning out of control as we swerve out of the police's radar. I shrug out of Pogue's grasp and open my eyes when the car drives back into the woods and whip my head back to see what's behind us. The cop's flashlights shine faintly at the rear windshield as we hightail out of there proximity and their car doors slam in a desperate attempt to follow, but by the time they get their car started, we're already long gone.
I turn back to the front seats slowly, like I just woken from a year's coma and blink away the dryness in my eye. Something happened back there...and I don't know what it exactly was, but it was something that normal people can't do. The way they car levitated and...seemingly moved behind the police vehicles so we could get away. I'm sure I didn't imagine it. It was real. I still feel the tremor of the engine rising, sending shock waves through my body. Slithery, like meal worms crawling inside of your cranium.
I clap a hand over my mouth and try to breathe evenly through the gap in my fingers.
"I think she's gonna puke," Reid chuckles from the driver's side. He steadies the car to a normal mileage once we hit the road.
"Don't aim for the seats, okay?" Tyler requests. "The interior costs over two grand."
"You should get your money back," Pogue mocks.
Caleb is the only one who cares about what I witnessed, or rather, what I felt. "You okay?" He asks seriously.
I nod, removing my hand from my mouth. My palms are warm and clammy so I wipe them on my jeans. "Yeah...I-I think so," I deadpan.
Caleb looks into my eyes intensely. "I need you to promise that you won't say anything about what just happened."
"I'll promise not to say anything about what just happened if you can tell me what the hell just happened," I answer back hotly.
The four boys share a look. "It's kind of complicated," Caleb says.
"Well, how about you start with how the car just lifted like that? Or that weird feeling I got when Pogue touched me?" I demand. They all fall silent. "Oh, do you need a minute to come up with a good excuse?" I add.
Caleb sighs. "Part of the reason why I'm asking is because if people find out about us, we'll be killed. So, it's better if you just keep what you know to yourself."
"But that's the thing. I don't know anything. My eyes were closed," I clarify, looking at each boy. "What did you guys do?" Another moment of silence, and for a second, I think that they'll refuse to tell me at all.
But then their heads bow a little.
And their eyes change.
To a cold, reflectional black.
I gasp, shrinking back against the seat as the car suddenly raises in mid-air. Pogue's arm slinks around my waist against, holding me to him a protective grip as the numbing sensation overtakes my body again. It feels like a barrier is being warped around me, preventing harm. Then I see a flash of white and grey and the car is suddenly on highway 84, closer to suburban territory. When I study the boys, they're laughing and blink once to deactivate the ebony sheathing of their eyes, temporarily forgetting my presence. My mind spins into defunct. I can scarcely believe it... it just happened again.
What the hell are these guys?
"What the hell was that?!" I exclaim. Pogue lets go of my waist and the fuzzy barricade drops.
"Don't be scared," Caleb calms me. "You know of the Salem Witch Trials?" He asks. I nod. "We're descendants of the five families. We were born with a power," he continues.
"Power," I echo. "Like...like magic?" Caleb nods. "And what you just did was..." I trail off, trying to wrap my head around it, but I don't think I have the mental capacity.
"Apart of it," Caleb confirms. "And that feeling you got when Pogue touched you was a result of him lending you some of his power to keep you from getting hurt. We don't normally do this around humans. They can easily get hurt, but with you, we had no choice."
"I...holy god," is all I can say, running my hands down my cheeks. It feels like my face is about to fall off.
"Now you know why we can't let anyone know," Caleb tells me quietly, gauging my reaction.
I stay silent. There's nothing I can say that will make any sense to my glitching brain. I can't process any coherent thoughts. It all just sounds like Tv static. I sit still, with my head in my hands, breathing evenly, or trying to at least. I can still feel whatever power the boys used still radiating off them. It pricks my skin like tiny needle heads, all along the length of my arms and legs. It's weird...and I'm not sure why I feel it. Does Kate feel it to when she's with Pogue? Does she even know? She's bound to. I mean, he's her boyfriend. If they can reveal such a secret to me, they can to the girls they're dating.
Right?
I want to believe it, but a part of me says otherwise. It's just all too much to bear at single moment's notice.
I remain tight lipped all the way to Caleb's place, where Pogue left his bike. Once the car is parked, they all pile out and gather around the hood, speaking privately to each other. Whether it's about me or not, I don't care. I just want to go home. Hopefully this is all some twisted dream and I'll wake up tomorrow comfortably nestled in my bed without a migraine. I stay in the car for five minutes, but decide to hop out when my legs become sore. The boys keep talking I barely catch what they say, save for a few words like, "secret", "safe", and "three hundred years."
I stand near the edge of the driveway, arms tightly crossed. A gust of wind blows a tendril of hair in my eyes, but I'm too cold to brush it away.
"What about her?" Tyler asks quietly, glancing at me. I zip up my jacket, shivering, and gaze up at the stars, pretending that I can't hear their discussion or don't care even though I do.
"She'll talk," Reid murmurs. He doesn't sound too happy about the situation.
"No, she won't," Caleb clips.
"How do you know that?"
"Because she's not stupid."
"She's a girl," Reid hisses. "Girls are blabbermouths."
That sends my blood boiling and I swivel to face them. "I can keep a secret, you know," I declare. They appear a little apprehensive, but don't further question my proclamation. Well, some of them...
"Good," Reid says. "Because if word gets out what we are-"
"Yeah, yeah, I know," I cut him off. "You'll get branded as freaks and sent away to a lab to be studied." I mimic the motion of locking my lips and throwing away the key. "I won't tell a soul."
The glassy look in Reid's sheer blue eyes don't fade. "Better not. Cause' we know where you live." At first, I think he's serious and my expression crumbles with disturbance, but then he winks, making me smile.
"Can you drive her home?" Caleb askes Tyler.
The youngest boy's face falls. He looks at me regrettably. "I only have enough gas to make it to Reid's place and home. Sorry."
"It's fine. My house is only..." I pause, weighing the distance, then wave an arm south. "Ten miles that way."
Caleb glances at Pogue, who sits quietly on his shiny bike, protective helmet resting on one leg. They seem to share a mutual thought before Pogue sighs and nods. "Yeah, I'll take her." He sounds like he hates the idea. Does he not like me? I think to myself. Maybe he's worried I'll tell everybody at school that they're...magical.
"No, really, it's cool-" I object, but the words freeze on my tongue when I see him kickstart the motor.
"Alright, get on," Pogue says and tosses a spare helmet at me, which I clumsily catch with both hands. It's smaller than his, but painted a deep red. He notices my apprehension. "It's cool. I don't bite," he tells me, a smirk playing around his lips as he lifts the helmet to his face.
"Unless you ask him to," Tyler jokes. He chuckles when Pogue glowers at him.
I force a smile at the humor and begrudgingly approach his daring bike. Skeptism is an understatement. Bikes have never been apart of my life and the idea of mounting one is downright terrifying. I wanna make in home in one piece. Not pieces.
Caleb senses my dilemma. "Don't worry, he won't get you killed."
"How comforting," I retort, then carefully swing a leg over the backseat. From my peripheral vision, I see Tyler and Reid exchange smirks that most definitely have a hidden meaning behind them. God, these boys are weird. How did Kate get mixed together with these delinquents?
"Hang on," Pogue tells me, voice muffled by the helmet. I tentatively curl my arms around his middle, not wanting to excessively make physical contact. "You're gonna have to hold on tighter than that," he says when my grip remains loose.
I hold him tighter, praying to the girl code gods that I don't get bitch slapped for this tomorrow.
Caleb bumps fists with Pogue. "Drive safe."
"I'll see you later, man."
Before I can wave my goodbyes, the bike takes off at breakneck speed and my arms immediately knot closely around Pogue's waist so I stay stationary. I fear that we'll spin out of control, but he's a better rider than I think and controls the bike with ease, handling sharp turns with minimal danger zones. The cold spring air nips at my exposed skin and I subconsciously cling tighter to Pogue's warmth. He gives off such tangible heat. It's like drying off next to a burning coals. Our clothed contact sends a funny tickle in my stomach - like butterflies. Except these were high on LSD. I've been around plenty of boys in my time to distinguish certain emotions that boys evoke. Some you just want to bone senselessly and others have something special inside them that you feel in your chest cavity. A quiet tug.
I feel it with Pogue.
Stop, I abruptly tell myself. This is Kate's man. You shouldn't even be in this position in the first place.
And I can't help but feel bad. Like I'm betraying my friend somehow by accepting a ride on his bike with my arms wrapped around him. Isn't this violation of the girl code? It feels like it is. Maybe I'm just being dramatic. Friends give each other rides when they need them, right? But the thing is, I'm not sure if I can call Pogue and I that. There's isn't even an 'us'. We just met an hour ago. I probably won't see him that much after tonight.
Probably.
After a few minutes, Pogue pulls into my driveway and cuts the engine, kicking out the stand. "Your stop," he says.
But I'm so lost in my thoughts, I barely realize he's talking to me. "Huh?" I blurt, stupidly.
"We're at your house," he clarifies slowly, like I'm mentally handicapped.
"Oh," I murmur and dismount the bike. I slip off the bulky helmet and shake out my hair. "Thanks for the ride," I say to him.
He takes off his helmet too before answering. "Anytime." When his face is free from the black visor, our eyes connect simultaneously, locking to each other like a two magnetic rings. There's an odd buzzing inside me - like the sense of deja vu that hits you when you walk down the street and pass by someone you're sure you know. The same feeling that overcame me earlier when I first saw him at the bonfire.
Only now it was stronger.
"Sorry," I apologize after a moment of staring impolitely, but he is guilty of it too. "You just...look like someone I know," I fib.
"Yeah," he says cautiously, just as bewildered. "I was gonna say the same."
"Wow," I breath, blinking once. "Weird, huh?"
"It's probably nothing," he dismisses, shrugging a shoulder. "It's a small town."
"Right," I nod along. "Small town." Silence overwhelms us for seconds. I scratch the skin between my eyebrows, the tension making me antsy. I'm never this dopey around boys. What's going on with me? "Well, goodnight," I finally say and begin to walk to my front door. But I turn around at the last minute, an impending thought striking my brain. "Hey, if you don't mind me asking, how did you and Kate meet?"
Pogue looks taken aback. "You don't know?"
I shake my head. "Nope. Nothing," I respond and crack a smile. "You were quite the enigma."
He chuckles. "But isn't that what girls do? Gossip about shit like that."
"Some like their secrets," I tease. "Like you right now...avoiding the subject."
He rolls his eyes. "What do you want to know? We met. She liked me. Now we're dating."
"Oh, come on," I whine, walking closer. "There's got to be more than that."
He lifts one eyebrow. "Why are you so interested?" He asks.
I shrug and kick a stray pebble. "She's my friend. I just want to know if she's in good hands."
His eyes soften at that. "She is. I care about her. A lot." He pauses for a moment. "Her car broke down at a party. I was there and fixed it for her."
I let out an exaggerated 'aww' and place my hand over my heart. "That's so sweet."
"Hey, you wanted to know," he grumbles.
I laugh. "No, I mean it. That's really sweet. Nicer than..." Flashes of Cole seep behind my eyes and I cringe. "Uh, nevermind."
"What is it?" Pogue presses.
"Oh, nothing. I just thought of my ex-boyfriend right now. He was a real jerk."
"What did he do?"
"He just constantly blamed me for everything. Eventually I got tired of it."
"Sounds like you're better off without him," Pogue notes.
I shrug and inspect the tips of my shoes. "It doesn't feel that way sometimes."
"Forget about him," Pogue tells me. "You're obviously too good for him."
My head snaps up. Did he really say that? Or did I imagine it? "Thanks."
He nods. "Look, I gotta get going."
"Right," I say with a smile. "Don't wanna make the ball and chain unhappy, right?" He smirks and it nearly sends my heart into palpitations. He's so attractive. I swear, the scale grows higher and higher every time I look at him. Kate really scored a keeper. "Well, goodnight...Mr. Parry." I turn and skip up to my front door. The lights are on inside so I know either my mom or dad are bound to be awake. They'll probably bombard me questions about the party. They might as well buy one of those little mouth blowers cops use to detect drunk driving.
I unlock the door and head inside, hearing the bike crank to life in the driveway and peel away. My mom is at her mail desk, writing on what looks like important papers. She looks up when my footsteps patter into the foyer.
"Hey, hon," she greets. "How did it go?"
"Good," I respond, rubbing the back of my head. "Fun. Lots of people."
"That's nice," she replies absentmindedly, pen moving swiftly across the notepad. She doesn't say anything else, so I take the window of opportunity to bound upstairs to get unchanged. When I cross the threshold of my bedroom, I freeze.
And it hits me.
My car.
It's still left in the forest.
Shit, I curse mentally, smacking both hands to my forehead. How the hell am I going to get it back without my parents finding out? Then my ass will really be on the line. I begin to pace back and forth, brainstorming on ways to get to the disclosed woodlands that's over twenty miles away from my home. I guess I could ask Kate for a ride? But she's usually swamped with plans on the weekends. Maybe Sarah can help me, but it seems weird reaching out to her. She's still practically a stranger.
I chew on my thumbnail and flop on my bed. After fifteen minutes of thinking and planning and with no result in a foolproof method, I start to think about my own funeral instead. My parents will surely have my head if they find out I carelessly left my car out in the woods with no remembrance of the exact location. Yup. Definitely dead by tomorrow.
Burying my face in my pillow, I groan in absolute dread...
and hear metal clinking together outside my window. As if someone was messing with a motor, or putting parts back together. Alerted by the noise, I sit up and race to my window, yanking back the curtains.
Holy shit.
There, sitting pretty in my driveway, is my car.
0000
As I sit in front of my mirror and brush the mats out of my hair, fresh from the shower, my vision blackens. It starts off as dots, before gradually forming into thick knots that completely block my sight. The brush handle tumbles out of my hand and I struggle to stand up, knocking the chair back in the process. Panic swells in my gut and I see images. Lot's of images. A boy...a young boy with copper hair inside a car, him seeing something horrifying, terror etching his teenaged face... then... his eyes turn white and my vision comes back with a blast of color.
I come to face to face with a dark figure staring at me though the mirror, grasping onto the other side with both decaying hands. A deep, ebony mass floats behind him. His skin is greying, rotten off the bone, and his mouth is open so wide it looks like an infinite pit.
My body thrums.
I scream.
And the mirror shatters.
A/N: I originally wasn't going to post a new story until the new year, but I've had this typed up for awhile now, so I decided to give it a whirl and see what people thought. Is it worth continuing? Let me know - Review? :)
Thanks for reading!