Taken

Chapter One

Natalia

I’m gasping for air, my breath coming in quick bursts. There’s a searing pain in my head, and a metallic taste in my mouth. I open my eyes. There’s a streetlight overhead, and I blink in the light. I’m lying down, and I can feel hard pavement underneath me.

And then, Cam’s voice.

“Nat?” he asks, looking down at me. “Nat, are you okay?”

I open my mouth, but I can’t speak, can’t form words. Then, suddenly, I take in a huge breath and gasp, bolting upright like I’m waking up from a nightmare.

“Cam!” I yell, reaching for him.

“I’m right here,” he says. I grab the material of his shirt, twisting it in my hands.

“What happened?” I ask. I blink a few times and then look around, taking in the unfamiliar street.

“I’m not sure,” he says. “You jumped into my car and then you started freaking out.” He holds up Raine’s necklace. “You kept screaming at me to pull over and then you jumped out of the car, and pulled this off. You threw it on the ground.”

I reach out and touch Raine’s necklace, remembering what it felt like to have it around my neck, what it felt like to be in Raine’s mind, in her memory. I remember a boy, being led away from her. I remember her taking the iPad from me. I remember her erasing my memory on the beach. And then, finally, I remember her with Cam.

I look at him. “You were with her?”

He sits down next to me, and nods. “I don’t know what happened,” he says.

“The Triad, they cornered me in the woods, she put me under some kind of spell, but I’m not sure exactly -- ”

The sound of a car coming around the corner echoes through the night. I know it’s Raine before I even see the car. I’m up off the ground in a second, and I snatch the necklace out of Cam’s hand before he can stop me.

“Nat,” he says, standing up. “Don’t. Please, just let me take you home.”

But I’m not going home.

Instead, I’m marching out into the middle of the road, standing in front of Raine’s car as she pulls it to a stop. She glares at me through the windshield. Becca’s next to her in the front seat, and Teri’s in the back. It figures she would have rallied her troops and brought them with her.

Not that it matters. I don’t care who’s with her or how many of them there are.

She opens the driver’s side door and steps out slowly, like she’s walking out onto a catwalk. If she’s scared of me, she sure as hell isn’t showing it.

“Natalia,” she says and sighs. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Her necklace is in my hand, and I clutch it at my side. I don’t want to have to put it back on, because I’m not sure what will happen if I do – I don’t want to be back in Raine’s memory, I don’t want to have to see what kind of horrible things she did to Cam or whatever else she’s been up to. But I know I’m not strong enough to hurt her on my own.

“Go home, Raine,” I tell her. “It’s over. You need to get out of here.” My voice is shaking, not from fear, but from anger.

She sighs again and then slams the car door shut. Becca and Teri get out too, then huddle together by the side of the car, watching us, ready to come to Raine’s defense if she needs them.

“Natalia, Natalia, Natalia,” Raine singsongs. She tilts her head to the side, her blonde hair sliding over her shoulders. A moment ago, at the party, she seemed drunk and a little tipsy, but now she seems in control and focused. She narrows her eyes into two little slits and then bites her bottom lip, like she’s trying to decide how to handle me.

“Nat,” Cam says from behind me. He reaches out and puts a hand on my shoulder, but I shake him off.

“Listen,” Raine says, ignoring Cam. She takes a step toward me, but I hold my ground. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

“No,” I say, tightening my grip on her necklace,
“you
don’t know what
you’re
doing.”

This seems to irritate her, and the look on her face changes from one of self-righteousness to one of annoyance. But then it’s gone and she’s back to looking at me with disdain.

“Look,” she says. “You have my necklace, I get it. But that’s not how it works.

You can’t just take my necklace and expect it to give you power.” She shrugs, and the overhead streetlight glints off her bare shoulders. “My necklace is only made for me, and yours is only made for you.”

I keep my eyes on her, not saying anything. I’m not sure how I know, but I can tell that she’s lying. She holds her hand out. “So give it back.”

I laugh. Raine looks taken aback, and Cam steps back toward me. “Nat,” he says, “Please, let’s just go, let me take you home.”

“Listen to him,” Raine says, moving a few steps closer until she’s standing right in front of me. “Let him take you home, Natalia. Who knows? Maybe you guys will finally have sex. I’m sure Cam’s ready to go again, aren’t you, Cam?”

I reach out and slap her. My hand connects with her cheek so hard that her head snaps to the side. She looks back at me, her blue eyes widening in surprise.

“Natalia,” Cam says, taking my hand. “Come on, that’s enough.”

“Get away from me, Cam,” I say in a low voice. He drops my hand but doesn’t move.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Raine shrieks. Her cheek is turning red where I hit her.

“Don’t you ever say anything about him again,” I say. My voice is quiet. And even though I’m a little scared, I feel strong. Powerful. I’m not really afraid of Raine, just of the situation. I know it could get out of control, could go places I’m not prepared for.

“Really?” Raine asks, and grins at me again. “I’m not supposed to say anything about him? Still hung up on him even after he hooked up with Kaci?”

This makes me falter a little bit. How does she know? I turn around and look at Cam, my face questioning. But he shakes his head. He didn’t tell her.

“Don’t look at him,” Raine says. “It’s not his fault that everyone knows about it.”

“It’s all over school,” Becca yells from the other side of the car. She’s smoking a cigarette and leaning against the hood, looking bored.

Teri’s standing next to her, her arms wrapped around herself, trying to stay warm.

“Can we go, Raine?” she whines. “It’s too cold for this shit.”

Raine gives them both a dirty look, silencing them. She turns back to me and holds out her hand. “Give it back.”

“I’m not giving it back,” I say. “So you should turn around now, Raine, and go home.” Even as I’m saying the words, I know she’s not going to. I know what’s going to happen, that we’re headed for a confrontation. And the weird thing is, I can feel this white hot rage burning up inside me, and I kind of want it to go there. I
want
to be able to take all my frustrations out on her.

“I just told you,” Raine says. “It doesn’t work that way. You can’t put my necklace on and expect to be powerful. All it will do is knock you into my head. I’ll kick your ass because you’ll be too out of it to do anything.”

“Nat,” Cam says again. “Please, come on.”

“I know,” I say to Raine. “I was already in your memory. I know you took the iPad.”

She rolls her eyes like I’m the most ridiculous person ever. “Of course I have the iPad!” she shouts, and throws her hands up in the air. “What the hell did you think happened to it?”

“I didn’t even remember having it! You erased my memory, remember?” I step closer to her, then reach out and push her hard in the chest. She falls down to the ground, landing hard on her butt.

She stands up, her eyes narrowing, her mouth curling up in a snarl. “Don’t do this, Natalia,” she says. “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.”

“Oh, really?” I shoot back. “Is that what you told the guy I saw in your memory?

The one that was getting led away by the guards? Who was he? Someone else you used for your own sick enjoyment, the way you used Cam?”

Her eyes flash with anger, and I can tell I’ve hit a nerve. But before I can figure out why, Raine’s rushing at me. “You bitch!” she screams.

I reach up and quickly fasten her necklace around my neck. Immediately, a searing pain burns through my head. Flashes of Raine’s memory pulse through my mind, places she’s been, conversations she’s had, people she’s seen. But this time, I’m prepared for it. I’m expecting to be in her memory, and it’s not a shock. I concentrate my energy on pushing through the fog, trying to get myself back to the present. It’s like being in a dream and having to force yourself to wake up.

When I come to, Raine is on top of me. We’re on the ground, against the pavement, and she’s scratching at my face, pulling at my hair, trying to rip her necklace off of me. I can hear Cam screaming at her to stop, and then he’s behind her, reaching for her so he can try to pull her off me. But I focus my energy and then push her, and she goes flying backwards, dropping to the ground.

“You fucking idiot!” she screams. She stands up and begins to rush back at me, but I reach my hand out and throw her back to the ground, like she’s a rag doll. I’m strong. I’m powerful. I have Raine’s strength and she has none.

When she looks up again, her hair is wild, her eyes rimmed with red.

“Natalia,” Cam says. He puts his hand on my shoulder. “Please, can we get out of here? This is crazy, this is ---”

“Cam,” I say, “go wait in the car.”

“Go
wait in the car?
” he asks. “Are you
insane?
I’m not going to wait in the car!

Why, so you can kick her ass?”

I walk over to Raine and slap her hard across the face. My hand stings from the effort, but it doesn’t bother me. In fact, it feels kind of good. “That’s for what you did to Cam,” I say. I slap her again. “And that’s for what you did to Hadley.” She reaches out and grabs my wrist, but I flick it away like it’s nothing. Then I slap her a third time, the hardest. “And that’s for what you’ve been doing to me.”

She rushes at me then, wrapping her arms around my waist and pulling me down to the ground. I’m surprised by how strong she is, even without her necklace, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.

We’re rolling around on the ground, and suddenly Becca and Teri are there, too, rushing to help Raine. The three of them descend on me, pulling my hair and scratching my face. I reach up and grab one of them and then push her hard to the ground.

Whoever it is (Becca?) slams against the street hard, catching herself with her hands.

I push Teri down next, but Raine’s still on top of me, her hands clawing at my neck. I roll over so that I’m on top of her, and then I hit her hard in the face. She grabs at my hands, but she’s weak – it’s like a baby bird trying to mess with a lion.

The image of her and Cam floats into my mind, and I raise my hand to hit her again. But then Cam’s behind me, his arms around my waist, pulling me away. I know I could fight him if I want to, but suddenly, I’m exhausted. Raine sits up on the street, looking stunned. Her sleeveless black shirt is torn, her lip is bloody, and there’s a purple bruise beginning to form on her cheek.

“This isn’t over!” she screams as Cam ushers me back to his car.

Becca and Teri are already getting up, running over to Raine, making sure she’s okay. She ignores them, brushing away their concern, her focus on me.

“Yes, it is,” I whisper as I climb into Cam’s car. “It’s completely over.” How can it not be? I have her necklace. And as long as I have it, Raine is nothing.

***

Cam starts the car and pulls it onto the street, and for a second, I feel like I’m going to start crying. But surprisingly, no tears come. Maybe it’s that I’m full of adrenaline, or maybe it’s just because I’m all cried out. Cam pulls away, and I watch in the side view mirror as Raine gets up from the road and heads back to her car with Becca and Teri. I watch as they become smaller and smaller the further we move away, until they’re just blurry little dots moving under the glare of the streetlights.

“Where are you going?” I ask as Cam maneuvers his car through the dark streets.

His hand is resting on the gearshift between us, and I stare at it, imagining the way his hands used to feel on my face when he would kiss me. It’s so weird, how everything can change so much in just a few days.

“I’m taking you home.” He glances at me, and when our eyes meet, my heart aches with sadness. I miss him. I haven’t even been away from him for that long, and I already miss him so much it hurts.

I shake my head. “You can’t take me home.” If my mom sees Cam dropping me off, she’ll flip out.

“Do you… do you want to go somewhere? We could talk.” He slows the car to a stop at a red light and looks at me.

For a moment, I consider it. Going somewhere with him. Listening to what he has to say, hearing his excuses. How he never meant to hurt me. How it didn’t mean anything. How he’ll never do it again. How he still wants to be with me. If he said all those things, if he whispered them in my ear while he kissed me, I could believe him. At least, in the moment I could. In the moment, I’d convince myself it was true. But deep down, I would never be able to trust him.