Tremble (16 page)

“I’l help you under one condition.” He wags a finger in the air breaking the silence. “We take a little light drive.”

***

El is is shocked at how wil ing I am to submit. I take him by the hand, and we fal through time and dimensions until our lids flutter open, and we look around. It’s night. We’re stil sitting in his truck with our seatbelts fastened.

“Coo-oo-oo-ool! He slaps the steering wheel each time he draws out the word, for emphasis.

“Where are we? Usual y I end up in Chloe’s bed.”

“Sweet, next time I’l let you navigate.”

“Wait, you know how to do this?”

“I’ve gone a time or two.” He plucks the keys from the ignition. “Come on. It’s my favorite night—homecoming.”

It’s dark. The air is damp, the cheer of the crowd almost deafening. We haven’t had a great showing these past few weeks with al the rain we’ve been having, but on this night, the stands are brimming with spectators.

A parade of floats circles the inside of the field, and I pul El is to go faster until we’re out on the green. Instinctual y, I take us over to the cheerleaders, Michel e, Lexy, Emily, Nat, Kate, and Briel e. It takes everything in me not to go over and say hi.

“Where’s Logan?” I ask. I’m so excited to see him; I can hardly contain myself.

A body col ides with mine. I step back and stare wild eyed at the tal guy with thick dark hair.

“Excuse me.” He pushes through the crowd with his hands ful of soda and a fast food bag.

“Brody, Chloe’s brother,” El is whispers.

“She’s got a brother? He must be Celestra.”

“Too diluted. Their lineage has some backwash. Chloe was close to clean, but nothing like you.”

“Oh, right, so you’re up on the who’s who of Celestrial bodies?”

“I know what they tel me, and yes, I know about Logan.”

“Oh. Wel , he’s an ass. I don’t real y care about him.” Crap! I’d hate to think I blew it al over some stupid comment I made to El is.

“The ass is right there.” He points over to a crowd amassing around a huge platform erected on the side of the field.

“And where’s my boyfriend?” I can never forget again that it’s Gage and not Logan.

El is leads me by the hand and takes me around the outskirts of the crowd. I see them! Gage and Logan both in uniform.

Four girls step up to the podium. Chloe glows in her sky colored dress. Her long hair flows in the wind, and she’s laughing, waving to the bitch squad front and center.

“Doesn’t the homecoming honor usual y go to a senior?” I ask.

“No clue.”

There’s a bunch of pomp and circumstance before they initiate a dramatic drum rol and announce the king, Brett Foresman. He steps forward and accepts his crown. The drums start up again, a much longer and far more dramatic purr than the last. I watch Logan’s face.

“Chloe Bishop!” The announcer screams into the microphone.

Logan doesn’t flinch. Maybe Gage told him, too.

Ms. Richards places the tiara on an ecstatic Chloe. She beams bright as a star. The entire crowd cheers as she gets on the float and heads off on her victory lap.

We spend the rest of the night circulating within the mob of people. After the game, we head over to El is’ house.

***

“Right about now, I’m hooking up with some chick from East.” He seems rather bored by the fact.

“Nice,” I muse. We start heading up the driveway. “So you gonna go spy on yourself?” I’m not sure why El is thinks coming back here is so important.

“Great idea, but no. I thought hooking up with two girls on the same night would set some kind of metaphysical record. You know, a menage a trios, but there’s two of me.” He takes my hand. “And different locations.” He adds, waving to a group of guys as we move through the crowd. “I ran into myself once, and it messed with my head.”

“You and Chloe did this al the time, huh?”

“Yeah, but I don’t miss her. She put my bal s in a blender.” We step into the house. “I’l be back.” He darts into a dark swarming sea of bodies.

What am I supposed to do?

Logan and Gage.

I find Logan out back by the pool, sitting with Carly-leave-you-in-the-forest-to-get-your-arm hacked-off-Foster. I think I should have a little fun with Miss Foster myself tonight.

“Hey.” A deep voice comes from behind.

I turn around with a jump.

It’s Gage.

“Hi.” Does he know me?

“So you go to, East?”

“Total y.” I’m relived he gave me the out. “And you go to, West.” Now that I’ve shown off my bril iant deductive logic skil s, I need to get out of this and quick.

Gage stares, wide-eyed and mesmerized. My heart picks up pace, and my ears fil with a rush of adrenaline drowning out the rest of the noise from the party. I’m shocked at how quickly he’s taken with me. There’s a delirium swirling around us, and for the better part, it seems to be contagious. I place my hand gently on his chest. The strong urge to kiss Gage bubbles up to the surface, so I do.

Kissing Gage is magic—it saturates me. Emotions funnel through him like an electrical current of throbbing anguish.

I pul back. Gage swal ows hard and gives a slightly embarrassed stare before offering a nervous smile.

“Let’s get out of here.” El is snatches me by the arm and pul s me through a sea of bodies before I have a chance to say anything.

Outside the air is cool as we race down the driveway.

“Chloe’s car is gone.” He points out.

“Crap. I forgot al about helping Chloe.”

“That’s not why we’re here.” He hops over the short, slatted fence and helps as I try to navigate the splintered wood.

“Maybe not you, but maybe some of us have better intentions than hooking up with two girls at once.”

“The girls were a nice bonus—girl,” he corrects. “This is why I real y came.” He plucks a bloated bag of crumpled herbs out from under his jacket.

“You’re kidding.”

“I stole my stash.” He grins, proud of his endeavor.

“Yeah, you’re freaking bril iant. Hey,” I ask looking around at the cars parked at every angle, “do you know if Carly has a car?”

“Foster? She’s got some red sedan with a sticker of kitten on the back. That’s it.” He points to a shiny new car parked on the down slope near Logan’s house.

I cross the street and pick up a softbal sized rock off the side road.

“What the…” Before El is can sound off, I hurl the thing at the windshield. It bounces and tumbles off the front with the impact of a feather.

“That was useless,” I marvel.

El is’ laugh cuts through the stil of the night.

I search the ground for a sharp rock and luck out with a piece of broken glass.

“I’l be right back.” El is takes off across the street again.

In long smooth strokes, I carve a steady line around the circumference of her vehicle—a giant X on the hood.

El is comes back panting with a long handled hammer.

“That’s better.”

He hands it over, and I’m surprised by the heft of it. It takes three tries before the windshield shatters—tiny, pebbled sized pieces scatter around the street and catch the light like diamonds. I walk around to the driver’s side and open the door. Nobody believes in locking anything around here because Paragon is oh-so-freaking safe. I carve a line down the back of the driver’s seat, the soft tan leather, gives, easy as skin.

El is and I walk back to his truck and hop in.

“Remind me to never piss you off,” he says turning the engine.

I look up the driveway and linger for any sign of Logan or Gage, but nothing.

We drive down the road into the narrow void of darkness, the forest comes up around us like a wal thieves in trench coats. Chloe is somewhere right now. She left, and nobody knows why she would take off alone in the middle of the biggest party of the year, herself the guest of honor.

Then I see the most curious thing—Michel e. She emerges from the woods al alone fumbling and staggering her way back to the party.

And I wonder.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Haunted

After sixth, and a long hard hour of cheer torture, I’m more than thril ed to see Logan, of al people, trotting in my direction. The rest of the guys streamline hard left and head into the gym, not Logan, and he’s looking right at me.

“Hi.” I practical y hop over to meet him.

“Why would you kiss Gage?”

My mouth fal s open, my heart lets out a single thump, and I shrink into my shoes a little.

“You were with Carly.” It comes out defensive.

He averts his eyes as though trying to jog his memory.

“I wasn’t with her. She was nothing and stil is. I sure didn’t stick my tongue down her throat. Or wait—let me guess—you wanted everyone to know you were together.”

The sarcasm isn’t lost on me as he turns to go.

“That’s not what happened,” I shout after him.

His neck jerks in my direction. Sweat beads down his temples and his helmet hangs low on his fingertips. He looks exhausted and heartbroken al at once. I don’t want to fight with Logan.

“I’m sorry about Gage,” I offer.

Logan struts off towards the gym—doesn’t look back.

“What was that about?” Briel e comes over securing her sweater around her waist.

“Noth—” Before I can get the word out, something sways in the wind from the low branch of the evergreen just beyond the field.

I suck in a deep breath and push my hands up over my mouth. A body in a tree—a man dressed in white wearing large black boots.

“What’s wrong?” Briel e panics turning around. “What?” Her forehead wrinkles with concern.

“Don’t you see it?” I point right at it. “In the tree!”

“See what?” She squints into it.

Kate walks up, her blonde hair disheveled from the breeze.

“Do you see something in the tree over there?” I ask her.

She glances at it before shielding her hand over her eyes.

“Nope.”

I spot Marshal briskly making his way over to the teacher’s parking lot.

“I gotta go,” I say, bolting in his direction. “Mr. Dudley!” I shout. It takes everything in me not to cal him Marshal .

“Miss Messenger.” He twirls his briefcase in my direction. “What can I do you for?” He waits until I’m right next to him before adding, “I have your arm.”

“My arm?” It feels like a long lost child has been recovered.

“Yes, your arm.”

“That’s great!”

“Now what do you want? I’m running late.”

“That tree,” I look behind me. Thankful y, Briel e and Kate are already in the gym. “Do you see that?” It’s stil there, dangling in the breeze, and nobody seems to notice.

Marshal rol s his head methodical y to the side. He looks bored, needling it with a penetrative stare. “It’s October.” He says simply as though that were enough of an explanation. “Fems are on overdrive. If that bothers you, you won’t like this month very much.”

“That does bother me. I hate freaky things. I don’t even watch horror movies. Is it going to hurt me?”

“Maybe.” He motions for me to fol ow him into the storage unit that houses the schools giant trash bins. Unidentifiable waste litters the floor, and it smel s like sour milk or vomit—both.

“I’m cashing in, Skyla” He gives a sly smile.

“The deal was an arm and an eye. Technical y, I don’t have either.”

“I’ve already delivered the arm to the morgue. Dr. Oliver was more than thankful. Told him I stumbled upon it jogging in the woods.

Personal y, I wouldn’t go through the trouble of reattaching it. Give it to Chloe when the time comes.”

“So I’m going to bring her back? It’s going to work?”

“Something like that.” He steps forward. I can feel the heat from off his body. “And she’l have an eye. I’m on my way now. Are you impressed?”

“Not real y.”

He clasps me by the hand, and a jolt surges through me. I can’t see or smel the world, just feel his amazing rush. I lean in to give him the world’s quickest peck, and he devours me. He clasps onto me with both hands and engages in the longest, deepest kiss. It feels supernatural—

nuclear, a supernova times one mil ion. It’s staggering how good one human body can feel, but emotional y for him—stil nothing.

I force myself to pul away. I could easily spend hours touching—kissing Marshal and this disturbs me.

The chirp of a car from the lot behind us catches my attention. It’s Michel e. She’s alone. I can feel her glowering over at me. Her pure beams of hatred assure me I’ve secured the number one spot on her shit list.

“Thanks,” I say, watching her get in the car and take off in a markedly pissed fashion.

“I might be in a little bit of trouble myself.” He laughs at the thought. “Oh Skyla,” he says, walking over to his car. “In the end none of this wil matter. I promise.”

A hard thump lands on the lid of the metal dumpster behind me. It’s a body, bloodied and bruised, vacant eyes staring up at the sky.

I run like hel .

***

It’s family not-so-fun night at Landon castle. Tad’s got a pencil tucked behind his ear and keeps a running score of some stupid board game we’re forced to play. It’s Drake and I, against Mia and Melissa, against Tad and Mom, who are desperately trying to mime out a scene from a popular movie. This sucks.

A slight rumble erupts and shakes the house enough to make the windows rattle.

“Whoa,” I say, sliding to the edge of the couch. Back in L.A. we had earthquakes al the time, but my adrenaline’s got me al riled up like it was my first. “You guys feel that?” My hands tremble.

“Feel what?” Drake places his soda on the bare wood of the coffee table, a felony in my mother’s eyes.

“I thought I just felt an earthquake.”

Mia and Melissa both huddle in horror.

“Oh honey,” Mom breaks pace from the game. “Its just Tad acting like a warthog.”

“Lizbeth!” He shakes his head annoyed at the fact she gave away a major clue.

It happens again, this time jolting the entire house. I give a little squeal and brace myself against the back cushion.

“Skyla!” My mother watches me wild eyed. “Are you OK?”

“You didn’t feel that?” There is no way Tad was capable of rattling the entire freaking house.