A Life Unexpected: Holly Nather Book One (Holly Nather Series) (8 page)

I see headlights through the front door and stand up to make sure it is a black Ford Explorer. My parents would be so proud of me, getting into a vehicle with a boy I have never met. I would get the, “
best decision maker of the year”,
award if there were such a thing.

“Thanks,” I say as I get in and put on my seatbelt.

“No problem,” Brody says with a smile. This time he doesn’t sound annoyed. As he pulls out of the parking lot, he turns down the music he was listening to. Sounded like some sort of country music.

Brody is a pretty nice looking guy. He has a short haircut, blonde hair and brown eyes. He is tan, which I don’t know how he pulls off in D.C. in this cold weather. Maybe he is one of those sissy boys that use a tanning bed. I laugh out loud and he cut his eyes at me.

“You know everyone is looking for you, right? You are pretty famous around campus right now
. ‘The girl who went mysteriously missing with Luke.’
I hear your roommate is freaking out.” He never takes his eyes off the road.

I bet Blayne
is
freaking out. She was the one who convinced me to meet Luke. I sigh and look out the window. I don’t know what I can tell him. Luke didn’t say if this needed to be kept a secret or not.

“I wish I could tell you what’s going on, but I’m not sure that I can. Maybe Luke can explain everything to you.”

Thankfully, he doesn’t push me for any answers. He turns around a sharp curve and asks, “So where am I taking you?”

After a long pause, I answer. “Um, I was kind of hoping I could stay with you. I can’t go home. I have to be somewhere I normally wouldn’t be.” My god, this is all so weird. I can’t believe I just asked a guy I don’t even know if I could stay with him. Who is this Holly and what happened to the Holly I used to be before Luke Denton entered my life?

He doesn’t say anything for what feels like an eternity. When he
finally
speaks, he says, “I guess that will be okay. Luke better be glad I consider him a brother or I would
not
be doing this. Where is Luke anyway? Is he okay?”

“He’s fine.”
I hope.

“Can you take me by my dorm? I need to get some of my things and tell Blayne I’m okay.”

“Sure.” He smiles and turns up the music.

AS WE PULL
up to the college, I start thinking that maybe this is a bad idea. Maybe we should just go straight to his place. But, it won’t take me long. I tell him how to get to my dorm. He pulls into a parking spot, and I unbuckle my seat belt. “Thanks. I’ll make it quick.”

I run up the stairs, trying to get in and out as fast as I can with no one seeing me. I hesitate before I reach for the door. I hope that the Poyen didn’t come here and hurt Blayne. I also hope they aren’t in my dorm waiting for me.

Nope. No crazy magical people, just Blayne is sitting on her bed, listening to her IPod and reading a book. She looks up, and when she sees me, she about jumps out of her skin.

“HOLLY!” She screams. I put my finger up to my lips telling her to keep it down.

Whispering, I quickly say, “Blayne, you have to act like you haven’t seen me. I’m fine, but I have to leave again.
Please
don’t tell anyone you’ve seen me.”

“Holly, your parents are so worried about you! You’re like the kid on the back of the milk carton right now!” She says in a whisper with a worried look on her face. “Does this have to do with Luke? Where is he?!”

“I’m not sure. And I’ve only missed one day of school. Why is everyone freaking out?”

“Because no one has been able to get in touch with you. Last I heard your dad was filing a missing persons report.”

I don’t say anything back. It kills me to know my parents are worried. It’s not like me to not have contacted them every day and it’s been two days since I’ve talked to either of them. I bet my mom hasn’t slept or stopped crying. I hate that the Poyen are after me. But, I have to do this to keep myself safe. I quickly gather up my things. Before I go out the door, I give Blayne an apologetic smile.

As I was walk out of my dorm, I see someone rounding the corner. I run into the bathroom and hide in one of the stalls. I quickly peek out the door and listen for footsteps. As far as I can tell, no one is out there. I run down the stairs and out the door to get into Brody’s vehicle. I put my bag on my lap and put on my seatbelt.

“I don’t live on campus. I rent a house just a few blocks from here. Two other guys stay there too,” Brody says as he pulls out of the parking lot.

“Okay.”
Hopefully
the Poyen know nothing about Brody. Although, I’m sure they know who Luke is friends with. Luke told me to contact Brody, so he must feel confident that I’ll be safe with him.

Brody’s rental house is a small red brick house. It has a grill out front and there are two cars parked out front. Brody pulls into the driveway and into the garage. We get out, and I see two guys through the window, playing cards.

When we walk in, a guy with long black hair says, “Mason, stop cheating!” He looks like a punk rocker in his skinny jeans and way-too-tight shirt.

Mason laughs. “I’m not, Jett! You just need to learn to play better.” His brown eyes are concentrating on which card he will murder Mason with next.

Brody sighs out loud, and both guys look up from their cards. Mason takes a long hard, drink of his beer and leans back in his chair. Jett leans forward onto the card table and puts his cards toward his chest.

“Another one night stand, Bro-man?” Mason asks while laughing and taking another drink.

“Shut up. No. This is Luke’s…friend, girlfriend? Hell, I don’t know. This is Holly, and she needs to stay here for a while,” Brody says while rubbing the back of his neck in frustration.

“Well hello, beautiful. You can stay in my room!” Jett says laughing and getting up not-so-gracefully. I roll my eyes at his brainless comment and drunken ass.

“Where is Luke?” Mason asks, while looking at me for an answer.

I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know.” They all look at me with confused expressions.

“I guess you can sleep in my room. I’ll take the couch. The bathroom is down the hall on the right. My room is the one at the end of the hall.” Brody says with a straight face. Just in the short time I’ve spent with Brody, I can tell he’s always serious and gets annoyed easily. His mood literally changes by the second.

“I can sleep on the couch. I really feel bad intruding on you guys like this.” I feel so out of place. How did my life get so crazy in just two days? As I am dwelling on my self-pity, the news comes on and I hear my name.

Holly Nather, 19 year old female, attends Stanthum University in Washington, D.C. If you know anything about where she is please call 1-800-missing.

If that isn’t bad enough, I’m not prepared for what happens next. A picture of me appears on the screen. Now it’s showing my mom and dad. They are begging and pleading for my safe return. I drop to the ground and start bawling. This is just too damn much to handle.

Through tears, I say, “I can’t tell you guys what is going on. All I know is I can’t be found! Not right now!” I stand up and hurry to Brody’s room. I throw my stuff down and sit on his unmade bed. I look around and try to think how any of this will ever get better. Why me?!

As I’m walking to the bathroom to shower, I hear the guys talking about me. I can’t tell which one is talking because they are talking so low, but I eavesdrop anyway.

“What if the police find out she is here and think we took her?”

“They won’t find her here. We won’t let her out of our sight. We are doing this for Luke.”

“Well I don’t mind; she is hot!”

“Don’t get any ideas. She is Luke’s!”

“What would be worse is if the Poyen find her here…”

“I know. Damnit, I told Luke this is a bad idea.”

No one says anything else.
They know?
They know about the Poyen? Why didn’t they say anything? Maybe they think I don’t know?
I can tell this is just going to get more dramatic. I get undressed and take a fast shower, hop out and wrap a towel around myself. I put one foot out of the shower when the door flies open and then slams behind Brody.

“Privacy would be nice?!” I say with a snap.

“Do you know about us?!” He asks with a demanding tone.

I scrunch my eyebrows. “I’m not sure.” I don’t move. I’m frozen with one foot in the tub, and one foot out. I wish he would leave and wait to have this conversation when I’m fully clothed.

“Did Luke tell you about him?!”

“Yes.” I hiss. Does he not realize how rude he is being? Or does he think it’s okay to just barge in on a girl in the bathroom?

“So you know about us then?”

I cut my eyes at him. “No. He didn’t tell me anything about you.”

Brody just realized where he is. Brody slaps himself on the forehead and groans. “Oh shit, Holly. I’m so sorry! I just couldn’t wait to ask. I wasn’t thinking. Put on some clothes and meet me in the living room. Sorry!” He leaves and closes the door.

Well, that’s at the top of my most embarrassing moments. I put on some clean pajama pants and a long sleeved shirt. I brush my hair and walk out of the bathroom. I go into the living room where three guys are staring ominously at me. I sit down in an oversized recliner and pull my knees to my chest.

Brody finally breaks the silence. “We are from Terre too. We also have magic. I was hesitant to help you out because as soon as you called, I knew there was trouble. If we get caught helping you and Luke…” Brody doesn’t finish what he’s saying, but whatever he was about to say made fear evident in his eyes.

“But you
did
help, and I thank you,” I say. “I’m scared as hell and so confused. In two days my life has become a nightmare.”

“I’m sure it has. Luke should have left you alone but he didn’t. Now we have to do all we can to fix this. When Luke decided to leave Terre, we all made the decision to stick by his side. So I’m in, whatever I have to do,” Jett says with confidence.

“Are we really going to risk our own lives for Luke and some girl?” Mason asks. He looks extremely irritated by this whole situation. “This situation screams bullshit!”

“Mason, we knew what would happen if he fell in love with someone. You encouraged him to meet her. This is partly your fault. We have to help,” Brody says.

I listen to them debate on whether to help or not. I hate that I’m the cause of all this. As I’m thinking how horrible I am, the front door opens and in walks the guy I have been anxiously waiting to see. It’s Luke. Against my better judgment, I run up to him and put my arms around him. He lifts my head to look at him.

“Are you alright?”

I nod and lay my head against his chest.

“It was hell trying to get back here,” Luke says while running his hand through my hair. Mason, Brody and Jett shake their heads. “I had a vision, and the Poyen are back in our world. They are trying to figure out a new plan. It won’t take them long to figure out Holly is with us and where we are. We need to go somewhere else.”

“We need to put a protective barrier around us until we come up with a plan,” Jett says. They all agree, join hands and start concentrating really hard without saying a word. I feel useless.