The Dragon's Gem (23 page)

As Hunter’s girlfriend, Kara, pulled into his driveway, to drop him off after school, he was quick to note Hope’s jerk boyfriend kissing her goodbye in the adjacent drive. The football king had his hands all over her, slobbering over like a dog over a new bone, and it was all he could do not to get out and punch him in the face but he held himself back. He had no right, Hope was not his to protect, not since that horrible night almost seven years ago that had ended their friendship.

The fact was, he had pretty much ignored her at school, always making fun of her and her popular friends just to be mean so she
wouldn’t speak to him. At home, things were a little more difficult because their parents had been friends since long before the two of them had been born. He knew their parents always secretly hoped they would become more than friends, and if he was being honest he did have feelings for her, but he couldn’t allow himself to even consider it. Not after seeing firsthand what she could do. Not knowing she possessed such a disturbing power.

“Earth to Hunter,” Kara said, noting his hands clenched at his sides as he stared at the couple in the connecting driveway.

Hunter turned to look at his girlfriend, comparing her to Hope, as he did with every girl he had ever dated. She was pretty in a dark, gothic kind of way: medium height, pale white skin, with short black hair dyed pink at the tips, and a body that was curvy in the places all teenage boys could appreciate. As pretty as she was, though, it was her dark edginess, so much the opposite of Hope’s bubbly personality, that had drawn him to her. For a short time he had thought maybe she could make him forget Hope, and the stupid childhood crush he still carried for her, but that hadn’t happened and he knew it was time to break things off with her before she got hurt.

“There’s a party at the lake tonight, do you want to go?” Kara asked hopefully. As usual, though, he ignored her and turned to stare again at the perky princess who lived next door to him. He denied he had any feelings for Hope, but Kara was no fool. She saw the way he looked at her with such longing, and it made her want to puke. She didn’t blame him though; Hope was the problem, she was the one Kara blamed for keeping Hunter from loving her as she deserved. Ms. Perfect had some hold on him that she couldn’t seem to break, but she wasn’t giving up. Hunter was hers, and she wasn’t letting him go.

“I don’t really feel like partying tonight,” he said absently.

“Come on, it will be fun.”

“Yeah, alright,” he said, getting out of her car. He had no intention of going to the party and would beg off by phone later to avoid a face-to-face confrontation, which he knew could get ugly. The last thing he needed was for Hope to hear Kara screaming about his obsession with her, especially while her stupid jock boyfriend was present. It would only make an already tense situation worse.

“You know, other guys want to be with me, Hunter!” she yelled after him angrily.

“So why do you stay with me then?” he threw over his shoulder as he walked away.

“You’re such a jerk!” she screamed, backing out of the driveway and revving her engine loudly, before taking off down the usually quiet road with her tires squealing.

Hunter watched with a frown until he could no longer see her car, and then turned to go into his house, almost knocking Hope down in the process. He reached out, his arms encircling her, pulling her against him to keep her from falling. She looked up at him with her big blue eyes and his breath caught in his throat. She was beautiful, and he had no doubt that if it had not been for their past he would have acted on the feelings he had for her. So many times he had dreamed of kissing her, and now that he held her in his arms, he found himself in a quandary. To kiss her would be foolhardy. He could never be with her, the things she could do terrified him but despite knowing that, a part of him still harbored feelings for her.

Hope stared up at Hunter, uncertain what the outcome would be. She wanted him to kiss her, had wanted it from the time she realized that boys were more appealing than her Barbie dolls, but she knew if he did, he would later regret it and find a way to blame her for it. He had been rude, distant, and angry since she had raised his grandmother from the dead. He had refused her apologies and distanced himself from her, despite the fact she had never used her necromancy again after that night.

In fact, since that night she had done everything she could to forget about her affinity with the dead, so she could be normal and fit in with the other kids her age. His rejection back then was the very reason she was a straight-A student, head cheerleader, and girlfriend of the captain of the football team. Never again did she want to feel like she was pariah, an outcast, or a freak, as he had called her that night. She worked hard to maintain her image so no one would ever suspect she harbored such a dreadful secret, but still it had not been enough for Hunter. Somehow, he always managed to make her feel as if she were less than everyone else with hurtful words and a surely attitude toward her.

With a heavy heart, she took a step back and let his hands fall to his sides, confident she was doing the right thing. At first he looked startled by her retreat, but relief quickly washed over his face, which only gave credence to her earlier thoughts. “I, ahh….” She bit her lip nervously; deciding the best thing to do was ignore the tension between them. “I just wanted to see if your mom was going to order anything from the catalog I left with her.” It was a lame excuse, she knew it, he knew it, but it was all she could think of.

Hunter looked down on her five-foot-four frame with a frown, despising himself for wanting to kiss her, angry at her for making him want her. “She isn’t home. You’ll have to call her later.”

“Okay…ah… tell her I will stop by later tonight if I have the chance,” she murmured, hurt by the coolness of his tone despite having heard it often in the past.

“Whatever,” he said agitatedly, wanting nothing more than to get away from her and the feelings of longing, she evoked inside of him. Her large eyes met his once again, innocent and trusting, making it easy to believe she was the same young girl he had grown up with and worshiped as a child, but his moment of insanity had passed. He reminded himself that she was not that girl, not anymore. He knew that beneath her perky, adorable appearance was a person capable of things no one should be able to do, things that were unnatural and too horrifying to believe.

“So, are you going out with Kara tonight?” she asked, trying to make small talk.

“Now you’re asking about my personal life?” he sneered, hoping his rudeness would make her leave.

“No, of course not, it’s just…she’s really…um,” she mumbled, trying to find something nice to say about the girl he currently dated, but finding it difficult to come up with anything. Kara was not exactly likable, and she had gone out of her way to be rude to Hope on many occasions.

“Don’t bother. I know you hate her, and for the record she really hates you too,” he growled.

“I don’t hate her, I….”

He raised his hand to stop her, tired of the game they were playing, knowing he had to find a way to end it so he could get away from her before common sense fled him completely. “I guess you’re going out with Jock-strap tonight after the game?” Her face fell, and he knew he had succeeded in angering her. She hated his pet name for her boyfriend, it was always a sure-fire way to get her dander up, and at times like this he used it to maintain distance from her.

“You
know
his name is Jake, and for your information I am coming home to work on a Spanish project that’s due Monday,” she replied, her cheeks flushed with rage.

“Wow, you really have become a goody-two-shoes, I bet Jock-strap finds that appealing,” he sneered.

“It doesn’t matter what Jake thinks, I can do what I want.” In actuality, Jake had totally ignored her when she told him that she was not going to the bonfire after the game. He assumed, as he always did, that he could convince her to forget her own plans and go along with his, but she was not going to tell Hunter that. It would only give him more fuel to pick on her.

“Really? I thought you followed all of the other sheep who worship the football god, but I guess I might have been wrong.” With that final insult he walked away, leaving her sputtering for an answer, satisfied he had gotten the upper hand. Once he reached his porch, though, he turned and watched her storm across the lawn then up the steps to her house. Instead of his normal feeling of satisfaction, he felt only regret. Despite everything, he stilled cared for her, still thought of her all the time, still wondered what it would be like to kiss her and take her out on a date. Hope was special, different, and he had yet to find another girl who made his heart beat as fast it did when she was around, or make him so crazy for her attention that he purposely got into fights just so she would notice him.

Her front door slammed, bringing him out of his musings, and he pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Kara to break their date, thankful her voice-mail picked up so he would not have to argue with her. “Hey, Kara, I forgot I had something to do tonight, you go on ahead and have fun without me, and we’ll talk tomorrow.” He hung up, resigned to breaking up with her the next day, and walked into his house.

*****

Hope was furious as she entered her house after her encounter with Hunter. Her body shook as she stormed through the foyer, then up the stairs, her feet stomping loudly on the wood
floors as she stalked toward her bedroom. How he so easily manipulated her was beyond her comprehension. He had made it clear he wanted nothing to do with her, but like a stupid fool, she kept praying he would change his mind, that somehow they would return to the close friendship they had shared as children. It was entirely stupid; they were now two such very different people. Where she was light and witty, he was dark and sullen; her friends were popular, his were decidedly not; she was a cheerleader and role model for other students, and he spent so much time in detention that he had his own assigned seat. He was difficult, rude, and entirely too judgmental where she was concerned, and yet despite all of that she still cared for him. He was still the same boy who had given her a half-crushed daisy for Valentine’s Day when they were six, helped her off the pavement when she fell off her first bike, and held her hand in the hospital when she had broken her arm falling from a tree that he had challenged her to climb. They shared a history and even if he were willing to throw it all away, she was not. Her heart just wouldn’t let her.

With a sigh, she tossed her things on the bed, and walked to the vanity table to do her hair and makeup for the game that night. A crystal necklace hanging on the side of the mirror gained her attention as the last rays of sunlight filtering through the window hit its facets, creating a rainbow of light around the room. Instantly she was reminded of the vibrant woman who had once worn it. Her grandmother had been her favorite person in the world. She had been loving, caring, and always ready to give a hug or a word of encouragement when warranted and sometimes even when it wasn’t. She had been a wonderful grandparent and her ability to communicate with the dead had made her the perfect ally for a child who didn’t understand why she could see what other people did not. From the time Hope could talk, spirits would come to her for help or just to have someone they could talk to. Her parents laughed it off as childish imagination when she had told them about their visits, but her grandmother secretly encouraged her to listen and help the spirits that came to her.

After the incident with Hunter’s grandmother, though, everything changed. Her grandmother, although upset she had used her necromancy in such a careless manner, had hugged her close when she had arrived at the cemetery that night and told her that she would take care of everything. After settling Hunter’s grandmother back into her grave, she made her promise never to use her gifts for her own selfish reasons again, and after what had happened, she had willingly agreed.

Shortly afterward, her grandmother had a stroke and had to be placed in a hospital. For days, she babbled on about demons and vampires incoherently, experiencing violent seizures that depleted her body of life and led to her eventual death. Her last words to Hope had been an apology for not protecting her. She counseled her to let go of the past and claim her destiny as a Necromancer when the time was right, but Hope had yet to find the courage to accept her abilities and doubted she ever would. Letting the crystal go, she turned away, wondering if her grandmother was disappointed in her. Looking toward the heavens, she mouthed, “I’m sorry” before turning away to get ready for the game.

*****

By the time the buzzer sounded ending the football game later that night, Hope’s throat hurt from cheering, her head ached from the loudness of the fans, and she just wanted to get home. The entire night she had felt anxious and uneasy. Her body became chilled, and her heart rate had picked up considerably the moment she had walked onto the field, signs that made her aware of a paranormal presence in the area. With so many people in attendance, though, she had a hard time trying to find the source of her unease, which to her was a good thing, since she tried to avoid spirits like the plague.

With trembling hands she packed her gear, keeping a sharp eye for any of the deceased who might be lurking nearby. Thankfully none of her friends seemed to notice her distracted state. The fact they had won the game and everyone was loudly celebrating helped to hide her unusual quietness, for which she was extremely thankful.