Death's Mantle: An Urban Fantasy Novel (Revelations Book 1) (2 page)

Still, whenever it came to Amy, he always had the tendency to act a little… abnormal. Malcom wasn’t sure how to explain it exactly, but Ian actually became more annoying when Amy was around.

“Nah, I’m going to try and get some homework done before my next class. I forgot to do the calc assignment. I’ll catch up with you tonight though.” Malcom shrugged. The last thing he wanted to do was watch the inevitably awkward conversation between Ian and Jesse. Their interactions hadn’t always been weird, but ever since Jesse and Amy started dating, things had gotten extremely tense.

“Well, I’ll let you know what happens. You still coming by after class?” Ian asked, already turning his attention back to his notes and no doubt formulating his own plan of attack for dealing with Jesse sans Malcom. Which, honestly, was a little weird too because Ian was probably the most aloof person he knew. In fact, Ian once joked that if you cut him, he wouldn’t actually bleed.

So why did he care about Amy missing class? Then again, Ian always seemed to get his panties in a bunch whenever one of his friends couldn’t make it to something. It was almost like he didn’t know what to do with himself when their tiny coterie of friends wasn’t together in its entirety.

“Yeah, I’ll be there,” Malcom replied, glancing up at the board as his teacher grabbed the eraser. “Dammit,” he muttered under his breath as he furiously scribbled what he could before it vanished under the eraser’s onslaught.

Once Malcom was free from the chains of French, he found himself shivering outside in the freezing air. “It’s awfully cold for it to be almost spring,” he grumbled as he made his way across campus.

He felt oddly accomplished with himself for completing another French class even if he had missed copying down half the notes. Truthfully, he wasn’t sure why he had stuck with the language all these years. He’d long since filled his foreign language graduation requirements, but something about stopping before his senior year felt a little like quitting. If there was one thing he didn’t do, it was quit. At least at school… Besides, lots of colleges expected four years of a foreign language, and some small part of him still hoped for a full ride scholarship far, far away.

He’d be getting the responses to his college applications soon, and the thought filled his belly with dread. Not because he was worried about getting into one of his top schools… No, if he didn’t get a scholarship, he was not going to college. Open and shut. Case closed. Do not pass go.

As he passed the cheerleaders and the football players who never won a game, not even for homecoming, a smile crossed his face. If Malcom had it his way, dances would be canceled if the football team didn’t win the corresponding game. At the very least, it would keep him far, far away from lame pep-rallies.

He was almost to his calculus class when he spotted a familiar face out of the corner of his eye. His heart clenched, and his breath caught in his throat as he made eye contact. Kim raised one dark eyebrow, tilted her chin up, and walked past him, her perfect face set into a stony mask.

“Oh sure, pretend to snub me, but I know when you go home you dream about me.” The words left his mouth before he could stop them. He reached out, trying to grab them out of the air and stuff them back down his throat, but it didn’t seem to work because she stiffened like someone had dropped an ice cube down the back of her shirt.

“No, Malcom, I don’t… There’s someone else now. You know that.” She tried to take a step away from him, but without meaning to, he’d put his hands on her shoulders. She paused, and he felt a tremor ripple down her spine. He spun her around until they were face to face. He could clearly see how close she was to breaking down and crying, felt her tremble under his touch, felt her breath on his skin.

“There was always someone else. That was the problem,” Malcom’s voice was calm, but his tone was annoyed as he brushed her ebony hair away from her face. “But in the end, you always come back to me, Kim.”

“Isn’t there a saying about setting something you love free?” Kim wriggled under his gaze and looked away, her cheeks flushing. “And let’s face it, Mal. As good as we are together when we, well…” She blushed. “We aren’t
actually
good together. You need a girl who will be your whole world, and that’s just not me.”

“Kim, you are my whole world. I need you!” Malcom restrained the urge to shake the meaning into her. “Why don’t you understand that? I don’t care about all the other stuff…”

“But it didn’t feel that way. You were so far away, forever withholding, forever detached. I don’t know why I stayed as long as I did when we were both so clearly unhappy.” She looked up, a brittle, forced smile just touching her lips. “Besides, you were never really willing to let me in, to tell me what was going on with you.”

“I hear what you’re saying, but all it sounds like is an excuse for cheating on me all those times.” Malcom tried to swallow, but his mouth was so dry. “And here I am, playing the fool and still wanting you back.”

Kim met his gaze, her almond-colored eyes glistening with unshed tears. Malcom’s heart wrenched. He was hurting her, but he hadn’t meant to hurt her. He pulled her close, the urge to help, to comfort her overwhelming. Their bodies fit together like well-worn puzzle pieces, and for a moment, everything around him faded away. He leaned down and gently caressed her forehead with his lips.

He felt her pull away from him. She stared into his eyes and stepped backward. She continued to tiptoe backward, still locked in his gaze. Malcom felt his heart ache more with each step she took. She turned finally but looked back, throwing one last furtive glance in his direction. “Goodbye, Mal…”

Ian 01:01

Ian was hallucinating, surely. On his way to find Jesse, he had spotted Malcom and Kim arguing from the balcony. It was a little odd, not because Mal’s six-foot-plus frame towered over Kim’s five-foot-nothing one nor because Kim was Japanese, and Mal was pretty much the only African American student at their entire school.

No, it was because he was relatively sure the two hadn’t spoken since their breakup a few weeks ago. Since then, Mal had alternated between a sort of detached reality and blind hatred. It made reconciliation seem impossible, especially now that Kim had started dating their other friend, Caden. It was frustrating because even though part of him wanted to write Caden off, not just for being stupid enough to date Kim, but for helping her shatter their tiny group. Unfortunately, he couldn’t because Caden was the captain of Ian’s swim team and his actions weren’t exactly un-Caden-like.

Caden was best summed up by a story he often told. He had been making salsa one day, cutting up peppers and mixing them together in a bowl. Well, later that day he met a thin-waisted, big-breasted girl, whose waist seemed to become thinner in the same way her breasts became larger with each retelling. One thing had led to another when the girl suddenly screamed, “it burns!” and ran off to the bathroom. The moral of the story, he had said, was to always wash your hands, especially after making salsa.

Ian still remembered when the six of them had been all but inseparable. Sometimes they built a fire in one of the fire pits on the beach or swung on the swings. Occasionally, Jesse would break out his guitar and start singing. Ian remembered how, one night, several kids from another high school had come to the beach after their formal and listened to Jesse play his guitar for several songs before their limo driver called them back to the car.

It had been incredibly chilly that night, and most of his friends huddled around the fire. The cold never really seemed to bother Ian. He liked the temperature downright frosty, almost relished it, in fact. This particular time, he had been sitting on the swings when Amy came over to swing next to him, and though he wasn’t sure why she had come to join him, her presence there in the darkness with him had been comforting. Unknowingly, they began to swing together in unison.

“Uh oh, looks like we’ll be together forever,” Amy said in between sudden bursts of laughter.

“Why’s that?” Ian called back his voice nearly catching in his throat as his heart beat excitedly in his chest. Sure, Amy was dating his childhood friend, and he wouldn’t have known her if Jesse hadn’t introduced them, but ever since they’d met he had felt drawn to her. Did she feel the same? What if she did? Could they do anything about it while she was dating his friend?

“Don’t you know the rule? If you swing at the same time as someone else, you’re destined to be together forever.” Amy smiled at him, her flawless auburn hair flashing around her in the firelight cast by the fire pit several yards away. “That’s why little girls always struggle to swing at the same pace as the boys they like.”

Was she admitting she liked him too? Ian almost asked. Hell, he almost leapt from his swing and took her in his arms. But he didn’t. She was dating Jesse after all. That would be wrong of him to do, no matter how he felt. Besides, he didn’t want to make her like Kim, always cheating on Malcom at every opportunity like she was the wind trying to sow her seeds across the land.

Ian swallowed and looked away, shoving down the feelings swelling inside him. Part of him knew Amy was just flirting harmlessly with him, but another part sort of wished she would just ignore him completely. That would make things easier.

Soon after, they both retired to the comfort of the fire where the rest of their group sat making s’mores, and Amy fell into Jesse’s embrace. The sight made him strangely jealous, though he wasn’t quite sure why. Except that wasn’t entirely true… Even though Caden was there too, Ian still always felt like he should be in Jesse’s place at these gatherings. He was never quite sure why Caden didn’t feel like a fifth wheel either since he didn’t have a girlfriend, but then again, the guy was so busy he didn’t always come to these gatherings. Maybe his busyness was an excuse?

“Oh yeah! I almost forgot to tell you guys. Ian and I are going to be together forever!” Amy squealed as the fire popped and snapped in front of her, making her excited brown eyes shimmer.

“You guys swing at the same time?” Kim asked a strange sort of giddiness in her voice as she looked in his direction and winked. Amy nodded in affirmation. “Well, it’s fact then. You can’t argue with swings.” The two girls laughed, and Ian felt his heart sink into his toes.

Of course, it was just a joke, but still… sometimes he wished it wasn’t. As the fire burned in front of him, illuminating Amy’s perfect mouth in the dance of firelight, he wondered what it would feel like pressed to his own. He mentally smacked himself and forced himself to look away. Thankfully, it was dark enough that no one seemed to notice his cheeks burning.

Jesse glanced up at Ian, shadows shrouding his face as he hugged Amy close. The look on his face was very clear. It said, “You’re going to have to pry her out of my cold, dead hands first.”

And there was the rub. Even if he somehow were to date Amy, it would likely destroy his friendship with Jesse, and while the two weren’t as close as they had been during childhood, even looking at Amy sort of felt like a betrayal. No… no, it would be better for him to push his feelings down where no one could see them and be happy for his friend… right?

The rest of the night passed without incident, but soon after both Malcom and Kim came to school no longer a couple. Neither would say what happened and even though it tore the group apart, neither would hang out with the other person after that. Ian had tried to talk to Malcom about it, tried to get them to remain friends, which admittedly was crazy because Kim had cheated on him so many times it was mind boggling as to why he would want them to stay together. Especially since, Malcom had already accepted so much…

Then again, when they were together, the rightness of it was almost like a gravitational force. It was only when they were apart that they became truly destructive. It was like whatever bond they shared only made them sane when they were in close proximity to one another and without that closeness, all bets were off.

Unfortunately, this time it really seemed like their relationship was over because Caden and Kim had gotten together a few days ago. Now he couldn’t do anything but watch his group of friends shatter into tiny, isolated groups.

At first he tried not to let it bother him, tried to convince himself everyone would get over it, and they’d all go back to hanging out together. Yesterday though, Malcom had snapped. He’d walked into the bookstore where Caden worked, and screaming about betrayal, slugged him as hard as he could.

Caden hit the ground, and Malcom continued to wail on him. Moments later, Malcom was smothered by a blanket of humanity while Caden escaped outside minus the piercing on his eyebrow. That same eyebrow ring was now on a thin piece of black wire around Malcom’s neck. It was sort of macabre, and when Ian tried to persuade Mal to get rid of it, well, it didn’t exactly go well.

Despite all that, Ian had just witnessed Malcom kiss Kim, and if he had seen it, chances were good others had as well. Ian shook his head in disgust and walked away, trying to ignore it because sometimes it seemed like that pair had little choice when it came to each other. Watching them just now had been sort of like watching a train wreck in slow motion, and unfortunately, he’d seen this wreck a few too many times.

Still, guilt crept up the back of his neck as he made his way toward biology. Maybe they would get back together and they could all go back to hanging out like normal. Stranger things had happened, right?

Jesse stood outside biology class looking a bit more morose than usual in his long-sleeved forest green shirt and jeans. While mopey behavior was usual for Jesse, it still made Ian uncomfortable to see it in action. He wasn’t quite sure why, but emotion of any kind made him uneasy.

Ian shook his head and sighed. Better to just come out and ask him about Amy or drop it, and as much as he wanted to just drop the whole thing, he knew he couldn’t. He couldn’t explain why, but he had to know, had to have information to dismiss the nagging voice in the back of his mind telling him something was wrong. Then again, maybe he was crazy. Perhaps he would call his shrink after all… his dad would like that.