Part Three: Dissolve and Decay

Chapter Eight: Drawing the Line

"So, what is it? You don't have time for me anymore?" Erik Carmichael asked, his voice a little strung out over the phone. To Blaze, he sounded high.

Blaze remembered those days, getting high behind Turney High School with Erik, skipping class whenever she felt like it. She sighed, curling up on the bed with the phone pressed against her ear. She hadn't gotten high in a long time, hadn't felt that need to be buzzed.

She touched the pendant around her neck, her moon amulet. How cold and uncomforting it felt right now… "I'm sorry, Erik. I haven't meant to be distant. It kinda happened."

"I miss you, Blaze."

"I know, I know. It's just dance and stuff." Stuff being the whole goddess thing.

"I get it. It's cool. I started hanging out with new people, too. They're cool."

"Awesome. We'll all have to hang sometime," Blaze laughed, happy that Erik had people to be with when she wasn't around, but she felt cold, too, when she realized she wasn't the only one now.

"We will," he promised."

Blaze felt the guilt gnaw at her gut. Erik had been the first person to befriend her when she moved to Los Angeles, to take her under his wing. It was white, little Erik that changed Blaze gothic. And now, it was the whole thing with Conrad and Hailley and the Pandora Daughters thing that was killing her.

"Hey, Erik?"

"Yeah?"

"I'll see ya tomorrow morning."

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"You're avoiding me," Conrad said, stepping up beside her. "You're not even come over to see my mom anymore, chica. She's a little distraught over that. I see her pacing by the phone every afternoon. And believe me, Jimena Killingsworth does not pace."

Blaze winced when he told her that. What was she doing, backing away from all her responsibilities all because of a guy? She felt like an idiot, doing this to everyone, especially herself.

"Look, Conrad. I like you, okay? But we're not going to work," Blaze sated bluntly. She bit down the rebellious feelings her words were dredging up. In fact, she didn't feel that way at all. She really wanted to believe that they could actually work. Looking into his soulful row eyes, it was plain to see that he thought so too.

"Cameron…There's just something—"Conrad began, but the bell for first period rang around them. The other procrastinators were rushing around, and Blaze fell into step with them, disappearing.

She didn't need a guy in her life, definitely not a guy like Conrad. She didn't see what Hailley wanted in him. Other than he was sweet, and great, and actually kind of manly, they typical everyday Californian guy, and not to mention he was hot, plus his mother happened to be Jimena, which had to mean that he was raised right.

"Sometimes," she whispered," I hate myself."

One moment, her life had been life, complicated but only by normal standards. She wanted to grasp her hair and pull it out, scream at the top of her lungs, throw her moon amulet at Hailley's big head to knock sense in her, and so many other things.

Blaze was allowed to like people, too. What made Hailley think she was the boss? She couldn't like someone, then not like them, then like them all over again! Could she?

No, Blaze had to draw the line. Friendship or a boy. Her sister Hailley, or Conrad. And it would be Hailley every time. But what if Blaze made peace with Hailley, and Hailley ended up with Conrad?

Blaze swallowed hard. Could she cope with that if it happened?

The scenery around the edges of her eyes blurred. She caught a glance at her watch, saw the second hand fighting to click forward and then just completely stop, losing a hopeless battle. She sighed. Her emotions had kicked her power on without her even realizing it.

"Cameron?"

Blaze whipped around, staring into the handsomely tanned face of Conrad. Her eyes grew wide. Time had stopped, right? She knew it had. So, why was he talking, moving, breathing! Conrad came closer to her, a bewildered look on his face.

"Dios. I swear, everything has just stopped. The people, the clocks. What's going on?" He asked her, hurrying to where she was rooted at in hopes of a half-witted answer.

Something thrummed along Blaze's chest, drawing her hand to wonder what was there because right now, she couldn't even breathe, let alone remember such a detail as what she was wearing. Her moon amulet. She glanced down, saw that it had started glowing, doing its own thing. She tried to remember. What the hell did that mean again? Something in her stirred as she finally remembered, oxygen mixing with her brain cells in an attempted thought process, a fear of being caught alone with the Atrox humming right along with the symbol of Selene. She couldn't do it by herself, and with Conrad here…

Conrad! Conrad couldn't be the one, right? "Cameron! What's going on?" He yelled. He was gripping her arm, his eyes wide.

She had to know. Her irrational side needed to know. She leaned in closer to him so that her amulet brushed the naked skin of his arm. Conrad took it as a sign that she was scared too, and he pulled her in closer, holding her by the waist. It was nice, being in his arms, but she pushed him away, quelled those growing feelings, and gave him a dirty look.

"Not now, Conrad," Blaze scolded.

"You look like you need comforting," he reasoned, but now he was beginning to look around in confusion again.

"Something's wrong," Blaze murmured.

"Yeah. Time has stopped."

"No. Not that! I'm used to that! I don't get it!"

Conrad gave her an incredulous look, not understanding. "Used to…time stopping?"

"Please." Blaze touched her amulet. She was beginning to shake now, but she didn't know from what exactly. How was she going to protect Conrad without Hailley? "I just need to concentrate"

The goth felt her body relax as she whole-heartedly concentrated on moving the second hand of her watch forward. The world began to lurch as it always did, as was the way of kick-starting the world back onto its time stream. Then it blurred again as time continued to stand still, some she was not used to.

"Cameron. Talk to me," Conrad commanded, his voice like steel, his voice like his mother's.

It only took her a moment, a second in a place where time didn't really exist to realize something odd about Conrad. She looked up at him, away from her watch, and actually smiled. "Give me your hand. I need you." Honesty went a long way, especially when you were a Daughter in need.

He held it out to her, and she gratefully accepted it. It was warm and comforting, and she wished she could be in his arms again instead of using his energy. She wished she could feel his lips again. Instead, she concentrated on his strength, using him to give herself a major power boost. Her amulet was still thrumming along her breast, but she wasn't about to remain trapped in this place the Atrox, or whomever the hell it was. She felt time warp to its proper place, the world come into focus for the two stranded teens.

Only now, where there had been light when time had done it's disappearance, there was a darkness that could only conclude it was night. Blaze did a check on her watch, sighing loudly. "Conrad, it's ten o'clock. At night!"

He looked at her, eyes wide, his grip on her hand becoming incredibly lax. "Impossible…"

AN: Man, I hope you guys liked this chapter. Also, and I think now would be the time to clear up the whole thing I mentioned in my profile. Idk if you read it or not. But her, here goes. The bits between Blaze and Conrad are going to seem a lot like Nym's bits of Carlos and Aria, if you read Night's Children. I am so sorry for this. Really, I am. I totally don't mean to make it look like I'm copying if you see it like I do. I write all my stories on paper way before they get posted, and so this was written a bit before Aria's story came out. Sadly, I post too slowly. Lol. Don't hate me!

Next Up: Blaze's suspicions about Conrad are made fact as, yet again, Ariel and the Pandora Daughters make an appearance in her messed up life. And Hailley only makes her thing for Conrad worse…