Darkness of Light (12 page)

I thought I would feel more relieved by the idea—I didn’t. 

Ryan and Kennedy stayed until Mark got home from his poker game. But even when I went to bed, thoughts of Eli’s fingers running across my bare stomach kept me tossing and turning until I finally drifted off to sleep. 

***

My bare feet pummeled the ground as I tore through the forest. Fear of something unseen behind me propelled dread through my veins, moving me faster. I broke through the thick brush, skidding to a stop as my feet hit the edge of the cliff. The mountain’s sheer drop ended far below where a river snaked through the dense forest. Falling would mean death. I tried to scramble back; my feet slipped on the loose gravel making me start to slide down the cliff. 

I was going to die.

I reached back grabbing frantically for an exposed tree root. Sweat dotted my forehead as my hand caught hold. 

Relief.

Groaning, I tried to pull myself back up.

“You look to be in need of some assistance, my lady.” Torin stood on the cliff’s edge above me, reaching out a hand for me.

“You’re an observant one, aren’t you?” Yes, even in peril I could still be a smart-ass.

Torin smiled and grabbed my wrists, pulling me up.

“Thank you.” I nodded at him when my feet were secure on the ground again. My attention quickly turned to him. He was one of the reasons why it was hard to catch my breath. Torin was dressed in black leather pants, a tight, black shirt, and black boots. His dark hair was tied neatly back at the base of his neck. I had forgotten how magnificent he was. 

“You never have to thank me for saving you. Your life and safety mean everything to me.” Torin squeezed my shoulders and brought me towards him. “But, I am at the Queen’s command. For your safety, I can only come to you like this, in your dreams. We could still be found out. I should not even be risking your safety to spend this time with you now.”

“What are you talking about? The Queen’s command? Are you British?”

“British? No, most definitely not.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Listen to me, Ember. Word of your powers has raised some interest. You are no longer safe. Please . . . I am unable to say anything else, but I am trying to show you.”

“Show me what? What are you forbidden to tell me?”

“You know,” he said as he reached down and touched my heart. “Even if you are not aware you do.” My breath lodged in my throat, my heart pounding at his touch. There was something so natural and familiar about it. “You know in here.”

Fourteen

My dreams continued through the night. They were filled with dark shadows and flaming red, cat-like eyes moving around me, pulling me into the deepest pit of darkness. I felt like I had just fallen asleep when my alarm woke me up. My eyes were gritty and heavy as I forced myself out of bed, propelling my body toward the coffee machine, before my lids fully opened. Getting me up early on a Saturday was like poking a bear with a tiny stick. I was not a morning person. And it looked like it was going to be a caffeine-diet day. 

“Good morning,” Mark said in an annoyingly chipper voice, lifting his coffee cup towards me. Mark was a morning person.

“Right,” I grumbled, heading to the cupboard for my coffee cup. Mark chuckled, knowing perfectly well how much I wanted to throw his perky, morning ass through the window.

“Oh, come on, Em. It’s a great day. It’s cold and overcast and you get to spend the day with a bunch of angry preteens.” 

Okay, now he was just pushing my buttons. I whipped around and glared at him, which only made him chuckle harder. “Oh, someone is grumpy this morning.” 

“Wow, you really are pressing your luck this morning, aren’t you?” 

“Oh, it wouldn’t be a good morning for me if I didn’t annoy you.” He laughed, but he also knew to back off. He understood I was more of a night owl. As a kid, I would stay up until three in the morning drawing or reading, even if I had to be up at 6 am. Most people who knew me highly recommended to others not to make conversation with me until around 10 or 11 am. 

“You used to be such a nice man.”

“Yeah, before I joined your family.” He snickered, handing me an empty bowl. I grabbed the cereal off the counter and sat down with a thump.

I ate breakfast, staring out the window at the forest beyond our house. I watched the mist weave eerily through the trees, twirling and twisting like clawed hands, beckoning me into the dark woods. From the day we moved in, I felt like I was being watched, like the woods had eyes. Strangely that only drew me more. What was it about this forest? I couldn’t explain why I was drawn to it. Knowing me, it was because it was creepy and dark. I was weird like that.

Mark looked at his watch. “You better get going. I’m going to head out on my run. See you tonight.” He kissed the top of my head and headed out of the house. 

“Really, it’s someone like him who needs to be committed.” I shook my head.

After I showered and dressed, I headed for the bus stop. My body was awake, but my mind was still snoozing. I moved onto the bus like a zombie. I must have dozed because in no time I was at my stop. 

As I walked down the aisle towards the exit, the guy sitting at the front looked up at me. 

Torin’s handsome face looked back into my frozen, shocked stare. “
Don’t trust him
.” His words came out clear, but for some reason they didn’t match the movement of his mouth.

“What? Don’t trust who?” 

I stared back in confusion. Then Torin’s features started to shift and his face became chubbier. I watched, stunned, as Torin morphed, becoming an overweight man with glasses. 

The man looked at me curiously. “I’m sorry. Did you need help with something?” 

I jerked back, as the pudgy man continued to look at me. I turned and ran off the bus.

***

The ropes course was twenty-five minutes from Silverwood, deep in woods, and there was no way to get there except by car. Mrs. Sanchez had told me Eli would take me the rest of the way if I got myself to Silverwood. 

I needed to get a car—like, now.

I arrived at the school a little after nine. Eli was already there, leaning against his bike, reading a paperback, reminding me of the first time I saw him. He was so enthralled with his book he didn’t seem to notice when I walked into the parking lot. I let myself take in his rugged beauty. His leather jacket was zipped all the way up to his chin, making me focus on the rough stubble along his jawline. My eyes moved to his lips as he rubbed his chin. 

My God, he was hot.

The book was worn and old, and he held it so I couldn’t see the front cover. I had to admit I was curious. What sort of books would he read? No genre seemed like it would be his thing. 

I walked slowly towards him. His eyes never left the pages of the book, even when I knew he was aware of my presence. “Morning.” My voice came out slightly squeaky.

His eyes flashed quickly to me then back to the book. He continued to read for another moment before he dog-eared the battered book and stuffed it in his pocket. I humored myself, imagining it was a bodice ripper—a biker who liked romance novels. Now that I knew he was a part of the RODs, I couldn’t help but look at him differently. I should run as fast and as far from him as I could, screaming the whole way. I knew I wouldn’t. He was terrifying, even more so now, but there was something about him that made me take another step forward.

“Sorry I’m late. The bus was running behind this morning,” I fibbed. The bus was on time. I was late, but he didn’t need to know that.

He made a gruff sound in his throat. “You ready?” 

“Um, yeah.”

He threw me the only helmet he had.

“Hope you’re not scared of motorcycles,” he said as he threw his leg over the bike. He didn’t say it because he was concerned. It was more like a, “tough luck if you are.” If he thought or hoped I would be afraid, he had the wrong girl.

“Scared of a Harley-Davidson Dyna Super Glide FXD? Hardly.” I hopped on the back, snapping the helmet strap under my chin.

He looked over his shoulder, his eyes wide in awe. “You know what model it is?”

“You sound surprised. Why, because I’m a girl who knows about motorcycles?” I replied with a sly smile on my lips. “It’s a 2003, Hundredth Anniversary model, right?”

He stared at me in disbelief for a few more seconds before turning around, shaking his head. Guys were always surprised I knew about motorcycles and automatically assumed it was because of Mark that I knew my way around a Harley. This was completely untrue and sexist. My mom was the one who had the love for Harleys. She had gone through a rebellious phase, dating many leather-clad, bad boys on bikes. She might have lost her love for the biker, but she never lost her love for the bike. That love had been passed down to me. 

“Hold on,” he said. 

I grabbed onto his waist and tried to ignore the raw electricity and heat I felt as our bodies pressed together. The chilly wind whipped at my face as he tore down the road. Nothing made me feel more exhilarated than being on a motorcycle. 

Regrettably, driving so fast had us arriving at the location way too soon. His warm body had felt like heaven against mine. As soon as we separated, I felt a loss, both in temperature and in . . . something more I didn’t even want to think about.

Taking off the helmet, I looked around. Low and high rope challenges were suspended throughout the trees like spider webs. It looked like a strange version of the Ewok village from
Star Wars.

There was a green storage unit a few feet away at the base of a large cedar tree. Eli walked over to it and rolled up the door. It was filled with plastic bins and a huge blow-up air mattress. He unzipped his jacket and threw it to the side. My eyes couldn’t help but wander over him. He wore his usual button-fly jeans, a long-sleeved, white shirt under a dark green t-shirt that said
Team Leader
on the back. I ignored the quickening of my pulse as I watched him bend over a pile of harnesses. 

Oh Holy hell.

“You want to grab something here, Brycin?” he asked, bending over again. 

Um . . . yeah. Your ass.

Joining in, I helped collect the rest of the harnesses.

“Do I get one of those?” I pointed at his t-shirt.

He nodded and headed to where he had left his backpack. Pulling it out, he threw the shirt at me. 

I held up the t-shirt. It had a decal of a person on ropes with
Ropes Adventure Course
in the left hand corner. Like Eli’s, it had
Team Leader
written out in block letters across the back. I tugged off my jacket and hoodie and slipped the t-shirt on over my grey thermal.

Eli and I set up and checked everything before our group of pre-teens showed up. But nothing could have prepared me for the day that lay ahead. I wanted to be back in bed, under the safety of my warm comforter, instead of being glared at by twelve sets of eyeballs with bad attitudes. 

A.E.R.C. worked with different age groups and levels of troubled kids. Level 5 was the hardest, as they were already in juvie and extremely troubled. Level 1 was for those who were just beginning to show signs of problems; most had low self-esteem. This morning’s group was Level 3, which meant most of the kids had some real attitude problems. They ranged from age ten to twelve and they looked like they wanted to be anywhere but here. Right then I felt the same. When Eli took a step towards them, even the toughest looking kid gulped nervously.

“All right, we’ll be going over some rules and safety tips with you. We want you to have fun, but if I see anyone pushing, fooling around, disregarding the rules, ignoring or disrespecting one of us”—Eli motioned between us—“you will find yourself dealing with me. I promise that isn’t something you want.” His tone sounded foreboding. “You got me?” Eli looked hard at each one of them. Terrified, they nodded in agreement. “What?” Eli took another step towards them; again he seemed to fill more space than just his body. It was something you couldn’t explain, but it was overwhelming and disturbing.

“Yes, sir!” the kids screamed.

“Yes, sir!” I echoed.

Eli turned his head to stare at me with a “what the hell” look.

“Sir, yes, sir?” I said hesitatingly, feigning meekness. 

The kids laughed, and it immediately broke the ice as I had hoped it would. They needed to respect and listen to us, but they also needed to trust and like us for the day to work and become a positive experience for them. From the way Eli looked at me, I knew he understood what I was doing. A slight smile formed on his lips before he crossed his arms. “That’s right. You can call me Sir or Eli. And if you refer to her as Fairy Princess all day, I’ll get you pizza for lunch.” He smiled wickedly, and the kids returned the conspiratorial smile.

Oh, you didn’t just do that
, my eyes said to him. 

I think I just did.

Fine, but payback’s a bitch.

Then it won’t be a far stretch for you.

I shook my head and smiled. 

“Okay, Sir Eli, let’s get these guys climbing!”

To my pleasure, the kids picked up on his nickname as well, which seemed to bother him enough to make me happy. Despite the annoyance of me being called “Fairy Princess” all morning, we worked efficiently and quickly together. We knew without saying a word to each other when to do something, picking up where the other had left off. I hated to admit it, but it looked like Mrs. Sanchez was right. 

At lunch Eli followed through with his promise and got them pizza. The kids had lightened up a lot. They seemed to be laughing, joking, and talking about the experience with each other, except for one, a boy named Derek. He kept himself separated from the rest of the group. There was something about him that rubbed me the wrong way. I tried interacting with him a few times, but he would answer my questions with a shrug or a grunted word. At lunch, I decided to go over to where he sat alone, sketching, to try to get him to join the rest of the group.