Of Noble Chains (The Ventori Fables) (32 page)

I smiled.  “Yeah!  My friend, Carrie, told me about this new series and it sounded really good, so I went to the bookstore where I found Scarlet and then I got a couple other books, and—”

“Why don’t you tell me tomorrow,” Wolf suggested with a weak smile, and my own faded as we stepped into the elevator.  It was a quiet ride up, and I suddenly felt like I was a burden.  Well, at least when I got home I could message Carrie and tell her about my books.

“Goodnight,” I called to Wolf as we left.  He only waved at us, as did Bridget.  But before the doors shut on them I saw a look pass between the two; something was going on.  I had the urge to stay, to find out what was happening with Scarlet, but decided against it; I would only be in the way anyhow.

“Guess what?”  Jayd pulled me away from the doors.  I hadn’t realized I had stopped.  We started walking down the concrete path towards home.  There were no stars overhead, completely hidden by the clouds and fog.  Even the streetlights were blurred, giving an ominous glow to the long, dark streets.

“What?”

“I’ve got an appointment in a couple weeks to get my driver’s license.”  He grinned wide.  “Wanna come along?  It’ll be after school.”

“Okay!”  My pace quickened, excited at the prospect of Jayd getting a license.  Then we could actually drive places, not that I had anywhere to go.  But it could be fun, and maybe he could teach me a thing or two.

As we crossed the street I got a sudden chill, thick fog rolling at our backs.  I stuck my hands in my pockets and shivered.

“Sorry,” Jayd said, “there’s a friend nearby.”  That was his code for “ghost”.  We had made it up when we were younger, in case anyone was listening.  He stopped on the sidewalk.  “Wait.”

Jayd was looking at someone I couldn’t see, an earth-bound spirit, as he called them.  He was a ghost whisperer, which was why so many people at the Center avoided him.  Ghosts were universally scary, apparently, and sometimes they made me want to run.  But Jayd did so much good by helping them, so I tried not to let my fear show.  Besides, most ghosts weren’t even dangerous—they only wanted help.

“What do you mean?” Jayd eyed the empty space, or whoever occupied it, I guessed.

“What’re they saying?” I whispered, taking a glance around to make sure we were alone.  We were, with the streetlight illuminating us like a spotlight.  Down the block I saw the faint image of a man sitting on a bench, but he was too far to hear anything.

“It’s a warning,” Jayd murmured, “I think.  He’s not making any sense.”

I hated when the ghosts weren’t clear, which was often.  If they couldn’t get their message across, they would usually show Jayd what they meant; and that led to nightmares.  But the visions were worse when he was awake; thankfully they hadn’t happened in a while.

He had been plagued with them ever since I’d known him and he first moved here.  He never said what they were, but they usually involved dying, and he had them most nights.  It had been better recently, since Wolf had showed him a few techniques to control his dreams…but I was never surprised to wake up to him screaming.  Jayd feels everything the ghosts feel, and they were always miserable.  They were dead, how else would they feel?

The cold disappeared, at least the supernatural cold did.  Jayd turned to me, and I knew we were alone on the sidewalk again.  I questioned, “Well?”

He only shook his head.  “I think it was a warning, but he wasn’t speaking English.  The only word I got was a name, Ezra, I think.”

“Should we tell Wolf?” I whispered, and he shook his head again.

“It’ll come, in its own time.”  He gave me a reassuring smile, but I could see something behind it.  “Let’s keep moving.”

He was terrible at hiding when something was really wrong.  But I let him have it, and we continued on the way home.  Ghosts weren’t really my thing, anyway.  Jayd seemed to have picked up his pace, and it only got faster as we came near the man on the bench.  His hat was low, and he flicked the newspaper he held as we walked by.  I thought I heard him say, “Weak.”  But ignored it.

“Jayd,” I whined, feeling as if I was starting to run, “slow down!”  Just as we passed the bookstore, the smell of coffee caught me and I stopped.  The store stayed open until two in the morning, and with its connection to the coffee shop I couldn’t resist.  “Let’s get a drink.”

Jayd sighed and turned, trying to convey just how much he didn’t want to.  But I smiled at him and said, “It’ll only be a little while.  It’s not that late.”

“It is late.”  He crossed his arms.  “But five minutes.  That’s it.”

I chirped, “I’ll buy!”

Inside it was warm, and though the scent of coffee and teas was enticing I picked us each up a hot chocolate.  We sat near the window, our reflections making us look as normal as we could.  It was moments like that that made me wonder how many people around me were actually spooks.  Sometimes I could tell, I could force my eyes to look past the glamour.  It felt like crossing my eyes, and if the glamour was too strong, it would give me a killer headache.  I checked the room, and found there were no other spooks nearby.

“We really should have just gone home,” Jayd murmured, hiding his lips behind his cup with a pout.

“What’s got everyone so freaked out?” I asked.  “We’re just here for hot chocolate, and all we did at the Center was help a spook realize what she is.  Is that so wrong?”

“Those disappearances have people worried,” he said, “they’re getting closer and closer to the town.  They must think we’re next.”

I mulled that over.  “But nobody in Sagefall is that strong.”

Something flashed over his face, but he quickly returned to his neutral expression.  I furrowed my brow at him.  He admitted, “I guess that’s true.”

“So how’s school going?” I changed the subject.

He sighed.  “If you want to go to public school, just ask Wolf.  I’m sure he’d be happy to enroll you while you’re mom’s out on work.”

“No…no.” I took a sip, letting the chocolate wash over my tongue.  “I would just be the outcast there like at the Center.”

“You’d have me.”  He smiled, nudging me lightly.  I forced a matching expression on my face, but knew it didn’t come out quite right.

The truth was I wouldn’t have him.  He was taking advanced classes, and he had his own friends there that didn’t know about his gift.  Once, I had overheard my mother talking on the phone to a distant relative, telling them how I was in remedial math, and basic English.  I wasn’t ashamed of those facts, but I had seen enough television shows and read enough books about high school to know what people would say.  I didn’t want to be called stupid, and I certainly didn’t want to bring Jayd down to my level.

“Can you help me study tomorrow for my math test?” I looked over at him, and found he was watching a couple across the café. 

“'Course,” he said, “I have a half day, so I can meet you at the Center.”

We continued to discuss anything that didn’t have to do with school, or the Center (which basically left anime, manga, and movies).  But it was fun, and we left the café at nearly midnight.

When we got home I still wasn’t tired.  I shared a large apartment with Wolf and my mother, not that she was there that often.  She was an ambassador for the government, helping to handle certain situations that involved spooks; it took her away from home most, if not all, of the time.

Jayd followed me to my room, where he started rummaging through the bottom drawer of my dresser.  It was declared his drawer, which he kept extra clothes and things for when he stayed over.  It happened a lot, since we spent most days staying up too late; days like today.

“Wanna watch a movie?” Jayd suggested, suddenly full of energy now that we made it into the apartment.

“Yeah,” I agreed.  After we were each changed into out pajamas, we crashed onto the couch with a large bowl of popcorn.  Jayd flipped through movies until he settled on my favourite Disney cartoon.

I wasn’t sure when, but I ended up falling asleep against him.

At about three in the morning I heard a lock click, and a blinding light coloured my eyelids red.  Wolf’s heavy boots stomped over to the edge of the couch, and he turned on the nearby lamp.  “Why aren’t you two in bed?  It's two in the morning!”

I rubbed my eyes wearily, the television screen playing a blinking logo the bounced between the corners.  I mumbled, “Movie?”

“Go to bed,” Wolf ordered, and I was curious for a moment why he was home.  Hadn’t he said he wouldn’t be here?  I stood, and Jayd joined me.  “We’ll pull the couch out for you Jayden.”

“I’m fine sleeping on the floor in Emmy’s room,” Jayd suggested.  “Unless she leaves her window open again and tries to freeze me out.”  A glance passed between Jayd and Wolf that I almost missed, but was too tired to question it.

“I don’t mind,” I shrugged and padded towards my room.  One of my pink cat slippers had vanished along the way.  “We slept next to each other all the time as kids.”

Simultaneously, Jayd and Wolf growled, “Go to bed.”

I shut my door gently with a yawn.  My room was my true haven, even though I told others that’s what the Center was.  But my room was painted a clean white, with posters of my favourite, well, everything plastered over it.  Stuffed animals decorated my floor, because I never bothered to put them back on my bed, and my computer sat like a trophy on my desk.  I considered checking to see if Carrie was online, but ended up falling onto my comforter.

After a few minutes of lying there without the covers, I began to feel too hot.  A sigh, and I opened up my window.  It normally faced an empty field, but the huge oak tree on the buildings property blocked my view of the grass, despite that it was early March and most of the leaves hadn’t come back.

An owl hooted, resting on the branch nearest me.  It looked like a barn owl, with its beady eyes and narrow beak, and I hooted back at it like a child.  I sat down on my bed, resting my head on the windowsill as it watched me.

“I wonder…” I mulled.  The sparks took a while to come, for the familiar yet elusive heat to reach me.  But it came, for once, and my eyes matched the owls.  I let out another hoot, and it sounded like the animals.  The heat faded quickly, and I was myself again.

“You’re lucky you know,” I sighed at the creature, “I bet nobody calls you a ‘sucky spook’.”

My throat tightened, and I felt the familiar sting at the back of my eyes.  When my lip began to quiver, I decided it was time to go to sleep.  I crashed onto my pillow, and wished that unconsciousness would come faster.

That night I dreamed of someone touching my hair, stroking their hand down my face.  A familiar voice I couldn’t place told me everything would be all right, and that it would be taken care of.  I wanted to open my eyes, to see who was there but I stopped myself; if I opened my eyes the dream would end, and I would lose this feeling.

I didn’t want to lose this warm feeling.  It was like the sparks that Shifting gave, and they crackled against my skin.  It was the feeling that I always wanted, that always left so fast.

The first book in The Ethereal Crossings, a YA paranormal mystery

One year after the “revolution”…

“I’m so glad your dad is letting you come with me,” he said, “we’ll get to learn so much.  You’ll love it.”  Luke clapped his hands together in the passenger seat, clearly excited about the coming lecture.  I rolled my eyes and kept driving, I had come this far, I wasn’t about to snake my way out now.  He patted my leg and said, “
Liv, you’ll see.”

“Do you remember when we were eight,” I started, “and you told me your biggest secret ever?”

“Yes…”  He had no idea where I was going with this.

“And do you remember how I didn’t care?  I still don’t care.  I will never care.”  It was Luke’s turn to roll his eyes at me.  When would he learn that I was just too indifferent to what had happened in the past year?

“Turn left up here,” he instructed with a smile.  He was starting to act like a child.  Wait, no, he wasn’t just starting; he had always acted like a child. 

I pulled into the Ellengale Community College student parking lot and waited behind two other cars to get past the guard.  Luke flashed a parking permit at a lanky man, he didn’t even look old enough to be called a man in fact.  His name tag read “Johnson” and he nodded us through, his finger slamming down on a button to allow us passage.

Stopping in the first spot I found we stepped out of the car.

“Did you have to park so far away?” Luke questioned as he shut the door.  He gestured to the guard’s tiny hut
twenty feet from where we had parked and the furthest point from the B Hall entrance.  I shrugged.

“Easier this way.”

Soon, Luke and I glided through the glass doors of B Hall.  The entrance was nearly empty and I glanced at a large printed clock hanging on the beige wall.  5:05 PM; we were late.  My eyes shifted toward Luke in time to see him give me a dirty look, most likely thinking about how far away I had parked.  Without a word I nodded my head towards two women seated in front of a set of large wooden doors.  Obviously the school went all out on making this place feel non-threatening.  I felt conflicted as to whether or not it was working.