The Awakening (Daray Hall #1)

  Chapter Five

  Tara and I just stare at each other, which should be impossible, considering she’s dead. But she’s not. She’s standing right there in front of me, as surprised to see me as I am to see her. Neither of us seems capable of moving.

  Jillian puts her hand on my shoulder again and whispers, “I told you that you wouldn’t miss her much longer.”

  That breaks the spell holding both Tara and I in our places. Suddenly, she’s running towards me, and her arms go around me, and mine go around her. She’s sobbing into my shoulder, and we’re just swaying back and forth, holding one another.

  She pulls away to look at me, and there’s a smile on her face. “Kylie, what are you doing here?”

  “What do you mean what am I doing here? What are you doing here? I went to your funeral!”

  She shakes her head. “No, I’ve been here since then. My parents had to tell the community something, so they told everyone that I’d committed suicide.”

  “I knew it. I just knew you couldn’t have done it!”

  Jillian is there beside me, smiling. “Why don’t you two find a more private place to catch up? In case you haven’t noticed, half of Daray Hall is here watching you right now. And Tara, I believe there’s something else you should consider talking to her about.”

  Tara nods, wipes the tears from her cheeks, and she hugs me one more time, before pulling away. “Alright, we can go back to my room. My roommate is already in the dining hall for dinner.”

  I follow Tara through Daray Hall. She leads me up to the third floor, and to one of the first rooms in the hallway. When she closes the door behind us, I take in the familiar sights of her bedroom.

  The blanket on the bed is the same pink, gray, and purple one that she’s had since the sixth grade. The blue nail polish on the dresser is the same one she used to paint ugly patterns on our skin right before the homecoming dance in tenth grade. And on the bedside table is a picture of us taken at Cedar Point from a few years ago.

  Tara sits on the edge of her bed, and I take a seat beside her. She pulls her legs up under her, and faces me. “You’re probably really confused about all of this, aren’t you?”

  “I just woke up a little bit ago and found out that an ancient Greek moon goddess chose me to die and become a creature of the night…so yeah, I’m a little confused.”

  She laughs, and it’s the most beautiful sound I’ve heard in a while. “Goddess Kylie, I’ve missed you so much.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “That’s like the biggest rule here at Daray. You don’t tell anyone from your old life. I wanted too, so badly. I even followed you twice, trying to work up the courage to talk to you.”

  “How were you not seen?” I ask, amazed I hadn’t noticed her.

  She smiles nervously. “You went for a walk one night after fighting with Harry, and I followed you. You stopped at that little park near your home; you were sitting in one of the swings, and I was watching you from behind a tree. I came this close to speaking to you,” she says, holding up her fingers about an inch apart.

  “I would have understood. I wouldn’t have told anyone.”

  She shakes her head. “I still couldn’t risk it. Plus, I think Jillian was watching me. She knew I missed my best friend, and she kept telling me that I wouldn’t be sad for much longer.”

  “She kind of told me the same thing when I woke up and mentioned you.”

  “I’m not surprised. The vamps around here know a lot more than normal people. I’m not sure, but I think they can tell when someone’s about to be chosen. They’re always waiting to take us away when we die. Then they allow our parents to say goodbye to us, and they leave.”

  “Your parents didn’t show, did they?” I ask, already knowing the answer.

  She shakes her head again. “Nope, yours?”

  “No. They’ve probably been out celebrating all day. Figures my Mom wouldn’t need even twenty-four hours, huh?”

  “Uh, Kylie, you’ve actually been out of it for like three days. We die on the first die, and our body takes time to heal itself and start the change that happens over the course of the next couple of years. Well, months for us.”

  “Yeah, why did it happen so late for us? Jillian said some of the other kids get years to get used to the idea of being a vampire, yet we only get like a year, if we’re lucky.”

  She shrugs. “I’m not sure why it varies so wildly. One theory is that we’re chosen when we’re needed. So, based on that theory, the goddess has plans for the two of us that take place soon. That’s why she didn’t choose us sooner; she didn’t need us yet.”

  “What could she possible want with us?”

  “Well, I think I know what she wants with you,” Tara says shyly. “Jillian and I have been talking a lot since I woke up. I’ve been given a huge gift by Selene, one that is very unique.”

  “You have special powers?” I ask in disbelief. “I know that Selene chooses a few people to gift, but why choose you?”

  She laughs. “Thanks, Kylie,” she says.

  “I didn’t mean it like that; it’s just that, you know, you and I were always so ordinary. We were those two girls that just faded into the background. People didn’t notice us, they just passed us by.”

  “I know what you meant. I’m still not sure why the goddess has gifted me, but she has.”

  Maybe she’s just imagining things…

  She smiles. “I’m not imagining things, Kylie.”

  I just stare at her for a second, afraid to speak, or think for that matter. Finally, I can’t keep silent any longer. “You can read minds.”

  Nodding, she leans closer to me. “Yes, I can read minds. I noticed it right after I woke up in the infirmary. Before Jillian even told me what I was, I could hear her. She was thinking about the best way to tell me what happened; I think it made it easier for me to believe everything she was saying.”

  “So, you’ve been specially gifted. Does that freak you out a little?”

  “More than finding out I was specifically chosen to become a vampire? Not really. Of course, I’ve had about three and a half weeks to start acclimating to my surroundings.”

  “That’s really not that long.”

  “I know, but the people here are really nice and helpful, especially Jillian. She answers any questions the fledglings have, and she does her best to make them comfortable in their new surroundings. She even tries to pair us up with similar roommates.”

  “Well, she failed on that one,” I say, looking around her room.

  “Who’s your roommate?”

  “Chloe Olson.”

  She laughs, and I narrow my eyes at her. “Good luck with that one.”

  “Thanks,” I say, trying not to smile. “I’m glad you feel my pain at being stuck with an uptight, stuck-up, spoiled brat.”

  “I’m sure you won’t be seeing much of her. Especially if you’re considering really training to be a Protector. Are you?”

  I nod. “Carlos says I can start training, but he didn’t promise that I could become a Protector. I think he’s assuming nobody in their right mind would ever ask me to…” I trail off, remembering what Jillian said to Tara in the gym.

  And Tara, I believe there’s something else you should consider talking to her about.

  “What did you need to talk to me about?”

  Tara smiles. “I think you’ve already figured it out. I’m still in training, and so are you, so we’d be perfect for each other. Kylie, I’ve been thinking about this for a while; choosing a Protector is a very important thing. And I trust nobody more than I trust you.”

  “Tara–”

  “Kylie, will you be my Protector? I understand if you need some time to think about it; you probably don’t even know fully what being a Protector entails, do you?”

  I shake my head. “No, I just know that they defend the people they’re paired with. Their charges, right?”

  She nods. “Being a Protector is a huge
commitment. You have to be willing to give your life for someone in an instant. There are quite a few people out there that know about us and mean us harm. Not just humans, but other vampires. Some of them may try to kill me in the future, and I need someone to protect me.

  “You also have to deal with the knowledge that most people consider us to be more important than you, and you have to be ready to take some heat, especially you.”

  “Why?”

  “Protectors are necessary to our way of life, but they’re sometimes looked down upon. Some people see them as nothing but muscular idiots. They look down their noses at them, while simultaneously needing them.”

  She sounds angry about that, and I wonder if she knows someone who talks about them. “Do you like your roommate?” I ask, thinking it might be her.

  She shrugs. “I’m not real sure. I’m friends with her brother, so she’s kind of a friend of a friend. She seems nice, but for some reason, I think she just doesn’t like me.”

  “Can’t you just read her mind and find out?”

  She looks ashamed for a second, before admitting, “I’ve tried, even though I’m not supposed to read the other people’s minds. I’m only supposed to practice my gift with Jillian or one of the other mentors here.”

  “So, she just doesn’t think about anything?”

  “No, I can’t read her mind. I’m not entirely sure why, though.”

  “Is it possible that she has a gift that cancels yours?”

  “I don’t think so. To be honest, it might just be that I’m still so unused to having this gift that I’m missing her thoughts.”

  “So, you can read my thoughts right now?”

  “I’m trying not to, but yeah, I can kind of hear them. I’m sorry,” Tara apologizes, looking slightly embarrassed.

  “It’s not your fault. I mean, it’s not like you’re doing it on purpose, right?”

  She shakes her head quickly. “No! I would never purposely eavesdrop on you like that. The only reason I listened in on Andrea is because I wasn’t accidentally picking anything up. I don’t like being able to interfere with people’s privacy.”

  Neither of us says anything for a minute; I’m too busy thinking, and she’s too busy waiting for my answer. I know she won’t rush me. The question is too important. Finally, the silence just gets too overwhelming, and she asks again.

  “Kylie, will you be my Protector?”

  “If I can become an official Protector, yes, I’ll do it. But I don’t wanna make any promises now because I don’t know if I can fulfill them.”

  She nods. “I understand. But you shouldn’t worry. You impressed everyone today; I think you’ll make a great Protector.”

  Tara throws her arms around my shoulders and pulls me close. In the weeks since her death, I’ve almost forgotten what it felt like to hug her. It feels so nice, being close to the only person that’s ever understood me.

  After she pulls away, she sits back and starts to tell me all about Daray until Jillian knocks on the door and announces that it’s time for me to come down to the dining hall.

  The dining hall isn’t a whole lot more than a large school cafeteria. Evenly distributed around the room are several large tables. They’re long and gray, and there is a long bench on both sides. Each table sits about eight people.

  Most of the places are already filled, but Tara has a partially empty table with friends. I take my tray of food and follow her over to where her friends are waiving her over, and I nervously sit down beside her. Her friends look nice, but I’ve never been good at meeting new people.

  There’s a boy and a girl, and both are looking at me like they’re unsure what to do or say. Tara warned me earlier that everyone has been talking about me; there hasn’t been a female Protector in a very long time, and everyone’s apparently anxious to see the first one in many, many years.

  The boy and girl look remarkably similar. Too similar to not be related. When I take a seat beside Tara, she turns to me, and begins the introductions. “Kylie, this is Andrea and Austin McLean. They’re twins.”

  The twins are about sixteen years old, and they’re both an inch or two taller than my five and a half foot frame. They both have short, curly, light blonde hair. Austin’s a little taller, and his eyes are a dark, dark blue color. His build is gangly, whereas Andrea’s is a little more pear-shaped. Her eyes aren’t as blue; they’ve got a little gray mixed in there. It makes her look more serious than him.

  Austin’s the first to stop staring, and when he smiles at me, I notice a slight gap in his front teeth. “Hi, I’m Austin. I can’t believe I actually get to meet you.”

  “What?” I ask, surprised by his greeting.

  “Oh, Tara’s told us so much about you, it was starting to drive us crazy. Kylie’s so amazing, Kylie’s so funny, Kylie’s so smart. You wouldn’t believe how much she adores you.”

  Andrea finally smiles, but it’s unsure and hesitant. “Yeah, Tara’s told us about some of the stupid things you’ve done together. She’s particularly fond of telling me about the Farmer Dayton incident.”

  I laugh. “Oh, my god! Tara! You didn’t actually tell them that did you?”

  She’s nodding and laughing, and I don’t know whether to laugh some more or be angry with her. Austin’s grinning, and it makes him look like a little troublemaker. “What Farmer Dayton incident? How come I haven’t heard about this one?”

  Tara opens her mouth, and I try to shush her. “No, don’t you dare!”

  She’s laughing harder now, and she rams her shoulder into mine playfully. “Come on, Kylie. That was like the best night of our lives.”

  “It was horrible. We almost got shot, and then eaten, and finally lost in the woods.”

  Austin’s just staring, with his mouth hanging open. “Ok, now you seriously have to tell us the story. You can’t just give us that and not say anymore. Come on.”

  Tara grins at me, and I sigh. “Alright, fine.”

  “Ok, so Kylie and I were trying to think of a way to spend our afternoon. It was summer break, right before freshman year, and we were just wandering around, looking for trouble.”

  “So, we had this stupid idea to try and tip one of Farmer Dayton’s cows. Later that night, we snuck onto his property, climbed his pasture fence, and looked for the smallest cow we could find. So, we got in our places–”

  She cuts in. “And his door opened, and he came out with a shotgun in his hands. He couldn’t tell that we were two teenage girls; he thought we were thieves or something, and he took a shot at us.”

  I take over. “The first shot went way high, and by the time the second shot went off, we were already at the fence. The second one exploded the fence about half a foot from my hand. So, we got over the fence and near the woods.”

  She chuckles. “We thought we were safe, but we were so wrong. His three large, mean German Shepherds came after us. So, the next thing we know, Kylie and I are racing through the trees, looking for a safe place to get away from them. We ran for almost an hour, trying to get away. We’d get a couple of minutes to rest, before they’d find us again.”

  “Finally, we found an easily climbable tree, and we hid there for a while. When the dogs finally got called back by Farmer Dayton, we hesitantly climbed out of the tree, and quickly realized that we were seriously lost.”

  Tara smiles. “So, we wandered around the woods for a while and, around three in the morning, we finally found our way home. We were exhausted, scared that Farmer Dayton would find us again, and worried we’d get caught sneaking back in.”

  “Did you get caught?” Austin asks, completely drawn into the story.

  “Nope,” Tara says, smiling wider. “Our parents were pretty clueless about pretty much everything we did. We could get away with anything if we tried hard enough.”

  “So, the next morning, I was walking to Tara’s house, and the neighbor’s dog is out. It’s this massive, barrel-chested pitbull, and it runs at me as far as it can go. It stopped about
a good ten yards away or so, when it reached the end of it’s chain, but it still scared me so badly that I ran the rest of the way to Tara’s, trying not to scream or wet myself.”

  Austin laughs. “Are you still scared of dogs?”

  I shake my head. “No, I’m not. But for a while, every time a dog would bark or growl, Tara and I would get really nervous. But after a while, the barking just made us giggle with one another. People would look at us like we were crazy, and that only made us laugh harder.”

  Austin’s shaking his head in amazement, and I can tell he’s thinking of different questions to ask us. While we’re waiting for his first question, I glance at Tara out of the corner of my eyes, and she winks at me. I smile, and try to answer as many of Austin’s questions as I can.