Catching Temptation (In Darkness She Fades (Book 1) (11 page)

I shake some salt on my scrambled
eggs and beef sausage. “Wasn’t it a little fast for them to do DNA testing? Who
works in the middle of the night?”

“They keep improving things
nowadays and this is a very family oriented town, so the staff was willing to
work overnight. Besides, it would be a shame if they didn’t find the dog. You
kids wouldn’t be able to do anything. With Halloween right around the corner,
it would’ve meant no candy or carnival.”

“I think Temptation’s pissed off
it wasn’t a monster–”

Aunt Sally slams the saltshaker
on the table. “Daniel, let’s not start again!”

“Wait, Sally, that’s something I
wanted to ask. Temptation, have you been experiencing hallucinations again? The
doctors said this might happen after moving.”

I drop my fork and it clatters
onto my plate. “What? You’re going to have me drugged up. Why doesn’t anyone
believe me?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” says Daniel.
“Maybe it’s because you believe magical creatures are terrorizing the town and
only you can see them. What’s next? A vampire sneaking into your bedroom at
night?”

My cheeks are burning. Pushing
back my chair, I storm out of the dining room, ditching my breakfast on the
kitchen counter.

“Calm down, Temptation. Daniel’s
only teasing. You need to stop taking everything so seriously.” Uncle Jack
follows me into the living room. “You have a doctor’s appointment at one this
afternoon, so make sure you’re home in time.”

I exit the house. The door closes
with a bang. I cannot believe it. He is crazy if he thinks I am going to let
those doctors stick me with needles. The morning breeze caresses my skin. I
reach up to scratch my neck. Metal meets my fingers. Stupid necklace. I tug at
it, trying to pull it off. After ten minutes, I give up. “Why me?”

“Temptation!” The shaggy figure
of Whelan waves to me from the end of the road.

I wave back and jog toward
Whelan. “What in the name of the living dead, are you doing up this early in the
morning?”

Whelan crushes me with a hug.
“Those murders last night. I heard you were missing. What’s the deal?”

“Uh…you’re not going sweet on me
are you?”

“Heck no! I mean you’d be hot if
you dyed your hair a different color–”

I laugh and punch him playfully
on the arm. “Screw you. You disappointed I’m not still missing?”

“Heck, yeah! How am I supposed to
get those twins away from Victoria long enough so I can get my groove on?”

A giggle bursts out of me. “Get
your groove on? Whelan, I’m sorry to tell you this, but I don’t think she knows
any other guy exists except for Jerald and Herald.”

“Totally not cool. This is why
you’re supposed to seduce those twins–”

“Whelan!”

“–and get jiggy with them, so I
can get jiggy with Victoria.”

“Whelan!”

“What? It’s a great plan! I get
some, you get some, and the twins get some–”

Holding up my henna-tattooed hand
to stop his disturbing logic, I say, “I get the picture.” I twist my hair in my
fingers.

“Everyone goes home happy.”
Whelan pulls out a piece of gum. Tossing it in the air, he catches the gums in
his mouth.

“Herald’s a jerk on a power-trip.
He thinks the sun shines out of his ass. Jerald,” I kick a pinecone out of the
street, “I can’t decide what I think about him.” The trees sway in the morning
breeze. I inhale the scent of fresh dewdrops.

“Everyone else thinks the sun
shines out of their asses too.” Whelan shrugs a shoulder. “But I’ve seen the
way they watch us. They’re jealous. They like you, Temptation. You’re probably
the only girl in school who’s told them to stick it where the sun don’t shine.”

“I know, but Herald deserved it.”
Releasing my hair, I cross my arms and settle my dark star on the beclouded
sky. A flock of birds are flying south for the winter.

“Totally, but they might not know
how to react to someone acting so indifferent to their…charms.”

My eyebrows arch. “Deep talk
coming from you, Whelan. Taking up philosophy?”

Whelan aims a playful punch. I
duck. “Come on Temptation. Give them a chance on Monday, please.”

I laugh at Whelan’s impression of
puppy eyes. “Gods, what am I about to commit to. Yes! Okay, but I’m only
agreeing to do this with Jerald. Herald gives me the creeps.”

“Awesome!” Whelan passes me a
couple pieces of gum. I take them and chew. It relaxes me a bit. Whelan drapes
his arm around my shoulders.

“Whelan, what goes on at the
Masked Ball? I mean, what’s so great about it?”

“Don’t know. I moved here after
it was all over. I guess this will be a first time for both of us.” He wiggles
his eyebrows.

I snort out another laugh,
causing smoke to escape my nose. “So, where are we going?”

He shrugs his scrawny shoulders.
“Nowhere. Chillax and walk your worries away.”

I smile. “Sounds awesome.”

****

I return home in time for Uncle
Jack to rush us to my appointment. At the rundown gas station, we turn right,
and travel a short way down the road, before swerving into a small shopping
center. I thought there would be more than three cars, since Rosewood does not
offer any other form of entertainment.
The doctor’s office pops into
view at the end of the building. I drag my feet when we enter the sanitized
office. The receptionist with the horn-rimmed glasses and fuzzy hair takes our
names. Before our body heat can warm the plastic chairs, the doctor calls us
into a private room. I sit in a squishy chair with Uncle Jack at my side.

“Hello, Mr. Falls. I take it you
are his niece, Temptation?” The doctor extends his calloused hand. I shake it
and then withdraw quickly. Nothing good ever comes from doctors. Always bad news
or some new drug they want me to try. “Well, your records tell me you were in
an accident not too long ago.”

“Yeah.” I press my lips together.
I can feel my throat tightening up.

“I’m very sorry for your loss.
It’s difficult to deal with these kinds of things. But what concerns me is the fact
you were dead for approximately...five minutes.” The doctor pulls his chair in
front of me and sits down. “Your uncle tells me you’ve been experiencing
hallucinations. I need you to be honest with me. Have you been seeing
hallucinations?”

I close my eyes and keep my arms
crossed.

“My sons both told me she’s
experienced them regularly.” Uncle Jack places a comforting hand on my
shoulder.

I jerk his hand off. Uncle Jack
just fed me to the wolves. Dad would be so pissed at him if he were here. I can
feel my emotional barriers crumbling. The pressure of my life in Rosewood is
not helping.

The goblins, the Jenkins twins,
and even the deaths of the Blares, may have been tricks of my mind.

Five minutes.

Those five minutes of death
caused me these problems. I stroke the necklace. No. The doctors are wrong.
Everyone else is insane.

“Temptation, it’s very important
you tell me when you started having these hallucinations.” The doctor pierces
me with a strict gaze.

“WHY!” I launch out of my seat.
“Why do you need to know? So you can call me crazy and pump me full of drugs?”

“Temptation!” Uncle Jack rises to
his feet.

“Young lady,” the doctor stands
in front of me, “People who’ve died for five minutes or more can suffer from
brain damage. Some come out of it fine. We need to know how severe your
symptoms are, so–”

“So, what?” I glare at Uncle
Jack. “So you can stick me in another mental hospital and then Daniel and Aunt
Sally won’t have to deal with me anymore.”

He snatches my shoulders and
shakes me. “Temptation, that’s not fair–”

“No. What’s not fair is I know
I’m not wanted. Aunt Sally might try to be fair to me, but I know she doesn’t
want me around! And you’re deliberately slumming for a reason to get rid of me
without looking bad.”

The doctor puts a hand on Uncle
Jack’s shoulder. “I think we all need to calm down a–”

“Screw both of you!” I slap my
Uncle’s hands off my shoulders. “You both stay here and decide how insane you
think I am, because you obviously don’t need my input.” I dodge them and run
out of the office, past the shouting receptionist, and into the parking lot. I
hear everyone shouting for me to stop, but I keep running. Instead of going in
the direction of home, I run straight into the woods. Twigs, leaves, and
pinecones crunch underneath my shoes. “I’m not crazy. I’m not imagining these
things. I’ll prove it to myself.”

I jog deeper into the forest
until the stone wall comes into view. Curious fingertips brush the mossy
stones. A thrill of adventure pumps through me like a shot of espresso. I
follow the wall for a mile, until I spot an archway twenty feet away. My
muscles ache. Leaves fall from the towering maple and oak trees.

At the crescent doorway, I peak
through. No goblins are in sight. I cannot wait for them to come to the wall.
If Herald finds out I came here it will be a darker nightmare. I suck in a
breath and follow the stone pathway, which leads to the goblins’ cove. The
further I travel, the more the sounds of the forest deafen. The trees bend
inward, but make no swishing noises. Near the end of the path, I go over the
steep hill, and enter the clearing where the little stream travels through the
center of a cove. No bronze bodies wander through the clearing. The dark cave
entrances blend in with the hills.

I would have never noticed the openings
if I had not seen them the other night.

The shadowy holes beckon me
forward. I spot the largest one where the king emerged from last night. I
clench my sweating palms into a fist, and wobble into the cave. I draw my hands
away from the moist walls.

Yuck.

Little balls of light illuminate
the pathway. A small glow comes from the end of the cavern. I halt at the end
of the hallway and stare at a large room. My mouth unhinges. The Goblin King’s
room reminds me of bedrooms in the castles in Europe.

Wandering further into the room,
I walk across a rug which reminds me of my mother’s Indian rugs. The canopy
bed, draped in luscious reds and deep violet, remains empty. A large Victorian
portrait hangs on the rock wall. My fingers press on the bumpy texture of the
old canvas.
Oil paint.
The possibility that I actually just stroked the
rock wall and not the canvas causes me to doubt my sanity.

I jerk back at the sound of heavy
footsteps. They echo out from a different cave opening. Crap, I cannot move.
Not because of a spell, but because of my own fear.

The Goblin King enters the dim
bedroom. He is wearing his usual black cloak. Face unveiled, the exhaustion of
his life shines in his weary eyes. With his back to me, he tosses a skeleton
mask down on the vanity and glances into the cracked mirror. His eyes widen
when he spots my motionless figure. Pivoting, his mouth parts in shock.

I do not move. I cannot. My
joints are glued together.

The king steps forward; a small
grin forms on his animalistic face. “I didn’t expect to see you so soon,
Temptation.” He halts a foot from of me and stares down into my plum eyes. His
grin changes into a frown when he spots the metal necklace. “Where did that
come from?” The warmth in his eyes vanishes.

“H-Herald put it on me last night.
He said only a powerful demon could remove it.”

The king exposes his chrome
canines at the necklace.

I withdrawal against the
portrait; afraid he might try to bite the necklace off. “I-I need you to do
something for me.”

The king retracts his teeth and
retreats a few steps. “I take it from your expression this isn’t something
pleasant you want of me?”

“I need you to cut me.”

The king raises an eyebrow.
“Why?”

I blink back the tears trying to
push their way out. I do not want to lose my contact lenses. It will feel like
taking a mask off in front of the king. No one in the world has seen my true
eye color since the accident. “There’s something about me you don’t know. I
died almost a year ago. Somehow – I came back – but I started seeing things.
Monsters or maybe they’re goblins. They – the doctors – think I have brain
damage. I’m afraid they’re going to cage me at some mental hospital. It’ll be
no different than a prison. You understand how that feels.” I stir up enough
bravery to move away from the wall and amble up to the king. “But I need to
know I’m right. Hallucinations can’t hurt me. If you cut me it means you’re
real and I’m not going crazy.”

The king smiles and closes the
gap between the two of us. His fingers part my black hair back so my white hair
drapes over my shoulders. “Temptation, you’re not crazy. Far from it. You have
a gift that scares people. They can never understand you like I can.”

My heart hammers against the
king’s wide chest. I lay one hand on his torso. “Still, I want you to cut me.”

The king’s fingers enclose my
hand that is resting on his chest. Placing his thumbnail in the palm of my
hand, he pushes.