The Weapon Within: A Paranormal Dystopian Adventure (The Unexplainables Book 1) (10 page)

Someone was kneeling next to Gareth and
there were others standing at the edge of the road, looking down at the broken van. Very gently, I moved the panther’s head off my knee and lay it back down in the snow.

‘
. . . by the time I got here they’d all arrived. That
thing
was attacking the man. It took three shots to bring it down . . .’

It was the same
guard who’d been at the farmhouse on my first night in the village. She was standing with Marcus now, a look of smug pride on her face.

‘
You had no right!’ I yelled, jumping to my feet. ‘He was protecting me.’

The woman squared up to me.
‘I had every right. That animal was chewing the guy’s face off. It killed him!’

‘
Good! I’m glad he’s dead!’

Brock appeared at my side and put a hand on my arm but I shook it off. The woman smirked.

‘Might chop off its head and stick it on my office wall. It’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever caught.’

‘
You’ll do no such thing!’ The ground beneath my feet shook.

‘
Ava, come on. Let’s get you home.’

‘
Good idea,’ Marcus nodded. ‘The animal’s body will be disposed of as per regulations and we’ll arrange for the van to be recovered and the bodies moved. I’ll need to take a statement from you when you’re feeling up to it.’ He glanced at me. ‘But that can wait a few days,’ he added quickly, seeing the expression on my face.

I turned to walk away.

‘Crazy bitch,’ the woman muttered. ‘All this fuss over a stupid cat . . .’

W
ith a shriek of rage, the powers exploded out of my body. Balls of fire sprang out of the palms of my hands and I threw them with all my might. They flew up in the air in a perfect arc, dropping down out of sight into the trees.

The people at the edge of the road ran back
to the clearing as an almighty boom shook the ground and fire erupted from the battered van then died away almost instantly. I met the security woman’s eye and was pleased to see shock registered on her face. Then I turned and walked away.

‘What on earth were you thinking?’

We were standing in the cottage kitchen. The others had left, leaving just Brock, Esther, Oscar, Tommy and myself. I
’d never seen Brock look so angry but it was nothing compared to how I felt.

‘
She had no right to shoot him. He hadn’t done anything wrong.’

‘
Nothing wrong? Ava, he attacked and killed a man.’

‘
Gareth deserved it.’ I spat the words.

‘
No one deserves that,’ he shouted back. ‘Surely you can see that?’

‘
If you had any idea of what I’ve been through with that man you’d understand.’

‘
Come on then, tell us. Tell us what he could possibly have done that would warrant having his throat bitten off by a wild animal.’

‘
He murdered my mother!’

Brock exchanged a glance with Tommy.

‘What?’ I snapped, my blood boiling.

‘
Ava, we’ve been making enquiries. Marcus has too,’ Tommy explained quietly. ‘There’s no trace of your mother anywhere.’

‘
Well there won’t be, will there? I set fire to the house.’

‘
You did what?’

‘
I set fire to the house when I escaped so that there wouldn’t be any trace of her. She told me to do it before she died.’

No one
spoke. Brock pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingertips and closed his eyes.

‘
Don’t you believe me?’ I looked at each one of them in turn, my anger rapidly replaced by a feeling of overwhelming hurt.

‘
To be honest with you, I don’t know what to believe any more.’ Brock sat down heavily on one of the chairs and looked up at me with sad eyes. ‘But what I do know is that we’re now facing a £2000 fine because you used your powers in public, and that is money we can ill afford. And it’s not going to go down very well with my bosses. Now, Marcus has said that under the circumstances you won’t be excluded from college but he has made it very clear that any further breaches of the rules will be dealt with severely. So please, stay out of trouble and don’t lose your temper like that again, ok? People could have been killed.’

‘
No, they couldn’t . . .’

‘
Dammit, Ava, enough!’ He slammed his fists on the table, making me jump. ‘Just go to your room and stay there. Now!’

*

I stayed in my room for the entire weekend. Esther brought up trays of food and left them outside the door three times a day, and three times a day she would sigh loudly then take the untouched trays back downstairs.

On Sunday evening I was coming out of the bathroom when Oscar came upstairs and blanched when he saw me. He turned to go into his room but paused in the doorway.

‘Why did you do it?’

‘
Do what?’

He regarded me for a moment, his eye
s cold. ‘I was coming to help you and then you screamed at me and I couldn’t move. It felt like I’d hit an invisible barrier.’

My mouth drop
ped open. ‘Surely that’s a good thing?’

‘
Are you serious?’ His lip curled as he spoke.

‘
Yes,’ I whispered. ‘You couldn’t possibly have . . .’

‘
Oh I see,’ he snarled. ‘That’s what this is about. I’m not a Nex so I couldn’t
possibly
have done anything, right? Jeez, Ava, is that really what you think of me?’

‘
No! Of course not! What did you expect me to do? The last thing I wanted was for you to get hurt.’

‘
I can take care of myself,’ he yelled. ‘I could have stopped him. I could have . . .’

‘
What? Killed him?’ I shouted back. ‘Is that what you wanted, Oscar? You wanted me to let you kill him?’

‘
I don’t know! I just wanted you to trust me.’

‘
I do trust you!’

‘
You’ve got a funny way of showing it.’

‘
What do you mean?’

He tur
ned on me. ‘I move in here because apparently you need me to be close by and yet you tell me nothing. I know nothing about your past and you’ve never mentioned this stepfather of yours. That’s who you saw that evening in the car wasn’t it?’

‘
I . . . I . . . yes. But . . .’

‘
Right, so you see this bloke who you’re apparently terrified of but you don’t tell me about it. You go running off into the middle of nowhere and leave me panicking, thinking you’ve left or got hurt or something. And then I see you getting the crap kicked out of you but you don’t think I’m man enough to be able to do anything so you stop me getting close. What am I supposed to think? That I’m just handy to keep around for when you have nightmares, but the rest of the time I’m just in the way?’

‘
No!’

‘
Well, I’m sick of it. I’m sorry but I can’t stay here any more. I’m going home. I wish I’d never moved here in the first place. I wish . . .’

‘
What? What do you wish?’

He looked straight in the eye.
‘Everything was fine before you got here. Now it’s all complicated. It’s a mess.’

He turned and marched back down the stairs
and out through the door, slamming it behind him.

*

The week that followed was not pleasant. The atmosphere at college was no better than it was at home and, to make matters worse, Beth was off sick. I did absolutely no work but no one said anything. My other friends were civil to me although none of them made much of an effort to talk to me.

On Friday morning, Brock drove me to the bus stop on his way to work.
‘Tommy’s calling around later. He’s taking Kenzie over to the diner to meet up with the others. I thought maybe it would be good for you to go too.’

‘
They won’t want me there,’ I replied morosely.

‘
I’m sure they’ll be happy to see you. It’s been a difficult time for everyone. Don’t forget that Kenzie has been through a similar experience and she’ll be there tonight.’

‘
I suppose so.’

The car pulled up at the side of the road.
‘It’s up to you but moping at home isn’t going to solve anything, is it?’

I looked at him blankly then got out of the car, unable to even bring myself to wave goodbye.

*

The d
ay went slowly. On arriving home I showered, changed into my comfy jeans and a grey hoodie, pulled my hair into a pony tail, and shoved my purse into my pocket. As I reached the bottom of the stairs I heard voices coming from the kitchen.

‘
I’m not sure how much more I can take. We thought it was the right thing to do but the strain is just terrible. Your mum is beside herself with worry.’

‘
No one could possibly have predicted how difficult it would be,’ Tommy answered. ‘I mean, when she first arrived we all just thought that she was another variation of a Nex, but she’s obviously very different from us. She’s wild and unpredictable.’

‘
I don’t think I can control her.’

‘
We’ve got to try though, haven’t we?’

‘
Believe me, I
am
trying but I think I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. I’m starting to wish now that we’d just let her keep running . . .’

The door behind me opened and Kenzie walked in.

‘Hey, Ava.’ She gave me a small smile. Chairs scraped in the kitchen and Tommy appeared in the doorway.

‘
Are you both ready? Ok, come on then.’

*

We arrived at the diner and my heart sank when I saw Oscar and Skye sitting next to each other, holding hands. Skye shot me a filthy look as usual and Oscar glanced up at me then quickly looked out of the window. I slid on to the end of the seat next to Noah. The others were bent forwards slightly, talking fast about something. Unable to feign interest, I sat back and watched the other customers.

A
waitress came over and took our order. I wasn’t in the slightest bit hungry so just ordered a drink. On the other side of the room Connor was sitting at a booth, surrounded by a group of youths, some of whom I recognised from college. They’d finished their meal and were lounging about in their seats.

Someone came out of the kitchen and my heart did a small flip when I realised it was Beth. She had her head down and didn
’t look up as she placed a tray of food on a table then hurried away. The next time she emerged I waved at her but she didn’t respond. When she still hadn’t acknowledged me by my third attempt, I decided to take action.

The next time she came out of t
he kitchen, I sprang up out of my seat and darted across to the table she was serving.

‘
Hi. Are you ok?’

She gave me a funny sideways glance and nodded, turning as if to walk away.

‘Beth, please, not you too.’

She paused.
‘What do you mean?’

‘
Please don’t ignore me. Everyone else is and I can’t take much more.’

She didn
’t answer but she didn’t walk away.

‘
Look, I’m really sorry about the other week. I know that we were supposed to give you a lift home.’

Turning towards me a fraction, she glanced at me again.

‘I didn’t know where you went. Oscar got to college just a few minutes after you got into that van. When I told him what happened he went rushing off after you.’

‘
I’m sorry.’

‘
They told me it was your stepdad.’

‘
Yes, that’s right.’

‘
Did he hurt you?’

‘
Yes.’

‘
I’m sorry about that. I wish I could have done something to help.’

‘
You couldn’t. He was a dangerous man. I’m just glad he didn’t realise we were together.’

She shrugged.
‘Look, its fine, really. Don’t worry about it, ok?’ She turned away again.

‘
No, it’s not ok. Would you at least look at me?’ I grabbed her arm, spun her towards me and gasped.

The whole of the left side of her face was bruised. Her eye was swollen and bloodshot
, and there were several deep cuts on her cheekbones and across her nose.

‘
What happened?’

‘
I don’t want to talk about it.’

‘
Beth!’

She glanced up at me and blanched at my expression.
‘Ok, fine, just don’t get mad.’

I raised an e
yebrow at her.

‘
That night – when your stepdad came. Well, after Oscar left, I went to catch the bus but I missed it, so I walked.’

‘
And?’

She shifted uncomfortably.
‘And I got beaten up.’

My whole body tensed like a coiled spring.
‘By who?’

‘
Chantelle,’ she whispered.

‘
Chantelle did this?’

‘
Yes. And three of her friends.’

‘
What
?’

Beth nodded.
‘Two of them held me down whilst Chantelle and the other one beat me up.’

‘
What on earth did they do that for?’

‘
Well, she said to tell you to stay away from Connor or you’ll be next.’

I swayed on the spot.

‘Ava? Are you ok?’

‘
Where is she?’

‘
Look, I really don’t think you should get involved. It’s being dealt with by . . .’

‘
Where is she
?’

‘
She’s in the bathroom. Don’t get into any more trouble, Ava, please. Not on my account.’

I held my hand up to stop her and marched down the walkway between the tables to the end of the corridor.

Flinging the bathroom door open, I stormed inside. Chantelle was standing in front of the mirror, applying make-up to her already covered face. A young girl, who was standing with her hands underneath the dryer, skittered out of the way and ran from the room. As the door closed behind her, I touched my hand to it then turned to face Chantelle.

‘
I have nothing to say to you.’ She flung her make-up into a little black bag and zipped it shut, hurrying towards the door. She pulled at the handle but the door stuck fast.

‘
Hey! Let me out of here!’ She pulled harder but nothing happened. Spinning round she faced me. ‘Open the door!’