Chosen

Monday afternoon Jael moved down the empty school hallway, her Uggs making a soft scuffing sound against hard linoleum. She glanced in the open door of the offices as she passed. Mrs. Brant, head down, still sat at her desk typing on her keyboard. Everyone else had apparently cleared out for the day.

  Further down the hall she saw Mr. Coffey, the school janitor, on his hands and knees outside the gymnasium doors, scrubbing. Probably cleaning up blood or puke. Every time the basketball team practiced, Tim Graves seemed to have an accident. Once he fell in a puddle of sweat after a game and broke his nose – then threw up – because he always got sick at the sight of blood. At least that’s what she’d heard. She never got to attend games and cheer for the team like a normal teenager with school spirit. Not that she really had school spirit, but it would have been nice to have the option.

  Harriet Thompson High School’s Tumbleweeds were a scraggly, assortment of guys, most of which would never make the team if the school were actually big enough to have try-outs. As it was, anyone who came to practice was automatically a first-stringer. Only Brent Baumgartner sat on the bench, and that was because he had scoliosis so bad he wore a back brace and tended to hook the ball to the left when he passed. But he had to be on the team to attend their weekly pizza parties, so he suited up and handed the other guys towels and water whenever they called time-out.

  She pulled open the door of the science lab and looked around. Brianna wasn’t here yet. She was probably still at volleyball practice. Her parents thought she should be involved in something other than cerebral endeavors. They actually said that to her– cerebral endeavors – who talked like that? Brianna’s parents did. They were both physicists and when they weren’t deep in research, they pushed their daughter to break out of the scientific mold they’d hatched her in and try to be a real girl. Sort of like Pinocchio, only without the long nose.

  Her friend was petite in stature and features, with wide blue eyes and carefully arranged blonde hair. She looked like one of those porcelain dolls an artist would create for display and not for actual play. But Brianna managed to come alive whenever she was in a science lab and that’s what Jael counted on.

  Science was not Jael’s strong suit, or even her weak suit for that matter. She hated science and believed it would be best to leave all research and experimentation to those more fitted, like white-haired old men in secret government installations underground.

  She flipped the lights on and set her book bag on an empty table. Her mom would be picking her up in less than an hour and they hadn’t even started on their project. She hoped Brianna had some ideas because she was a blank slate.

  The door opened and Brianna walked in, a huge smile turning her perfect features even more perfect. “Hey, Jael! Sorry I’m late. Practice went a little long. Coach had to give the whole, rah! rah! working together as a team, speech after Sabrina brought a note from her doctor excusing her from tomorrow night’s game.”

  Jael rolled her eyes. “No way! Is she crazy?”

  She nodded. “Pretty much. The note said she’s bi-polar and ADD. Everyone already knew that, but Coach thinks anger gives you the winning edge. She works at getting us mad before every game. If Sabrina were contagious she’d manage to get us all infected. She’ll never let her quit. Apparently the little fiasco at last week’s game in Bunkerville – when Sabrina punched the guard on the other team – was just an accident. At least that’s the official story.”

  Jael slipped into a chair and pulled her notebook out of her bag. “Well, I didn’t have many ideas,” she said, slowly opening to the section where she’d doodled and scribbled words and designs on a couple pages of notebook paper during class earlier in the day. The teacher had given them time to work on their projects or at least come up with a project, but as usual her mind was elsewhere. She glanced over what she’d drawn. Sketches of staked vampires and dripping blood filled the paper. Along with a couple hearts and arrows with the initials, JF + LS inside. Lyle was so hot. “Hope you have something better,” she said.

  “Better than cartoons?” Brianna grinned and shook her head. “You never cease to amaze me with your academic prowess.”

  “Whatever.” Jael leaned back in the chair with a creak of metal castors on tile. “Everyone can’t be like you – the popular, pretty, science nerd, genius. Somebody has to be a below average student, with a terrible sense of fashion and no friends. Otherwise the world would be so boring.”

  “That’s true.” Brianna whipped out her notebook and opened it to a full page of neat, cursive handwriting and diagrams. “That’s why I already have it all written down right here. You don’t even need to draw one more of those toothy creatures for extra credit. I think we have an easy A.”

  “We?” Jael grinned. “I like the sound of that.”

  Brianna laughed. “I thought you would.” She shoved the notebook back into her book bag. “Since we’re already ahead of the game, let’s get out of here and have some fun before your mom comes to pick you up.”

  “I’m really sorry the overnight thing didn’t work out, Brianna. My parents are just so…” She didn’t know how to say: My parents are paranoid because I’m the only hope for a bunch of Amish people in Minnesota and they don’t want anything to happen to me before I’ve been thoroughly trained to kill vamps and set the Amish free.

  “Over protective?” Brianna shrugged and moved toward the door. “Everyone’s parents are weird, Jael. Don’t worry about it. Mine have their quirks too. Did you see what my dad wore the other day when he dropped me off? I swear he lives in an alternate universe where nerds are gods.”

  “Where are we going?” Jael asked, following her friend into the hallway. She flipped the light switch off before the door swung shut behind her.

  “To the coffee shop. It’s where all the cool kids hang out after school. Didn’t you know?” Brianna slung her bag over her shoulder and slanted a glance toward the janitor still on his knees, scrubbing. “That’s why I’m getting my college degree,” she said with a sniff. “I hate blood stains.”

  “Better not hang out with me then,” Jael mumbled under her breath as they pushed through the exit door into the late afternoon sunshine.

  The school parking lot was nearly empty. A few crows pecked at a flattened lunch sack on the hot pavement. The scavengers cawed and flew a few feet away at their approach, but were back eating sun-broiled bologna and cheese within seconds.

  “Isn’t it like three blocks away?” Jael asked, squinting up at the sun. “It’s still stinking hot out here.”

  “Don’t worry. I have a car.” She pointed at an old gray Cadillac parked across the lot. “Got it for my birthday. The parents thought I should have a cool vehicle to cruise around in.”

  Jael put her arm around her friend and squeezed. “Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s very cool in that alternate universe your dad’s from.”

  She had to admit the car was comfy, plush seats and lots of room for her long legs, although Brianna’s seat was moved as far up as it would go, so her feet fit comfortably on the peddles. The girl was short! The stereo had terrific bass and surrounded them in sound when they turned it up to sing along with Kelly Clarkson. There was still a lingering hint of cigarette smoke from the last owner and something that smelled like old people or menthol, but overall it was a cool car.

  Brianna drove straight past the coffee shop and continued down Main Street, singing, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger…”

  “Hey,” Jael bumped Brianna’s elbow to get her attention and hooked a thumb over her shoulder, “the coffee shop’s back there.”

  Brianna shot her a grin and kept on singing. She turned left at the next street and slowed as they approached Sunburn Park. A group of kids lounged in the meager shade of a cluster of Acacia trees, smoking and laughing. She recognized the back of Lyle’s blonde head and shoulders. Her heart did a flip-flop and she slumped in her seat. “Keep going!”

  “Don’t you want to talk to him? I’m sure
you two would hit it off. He’s terrible at Science too.” Brianna pulled the car along the curb and slipped it into park. “Come on. You’re not afraid of a boy, are you?”

  Jael shook her head, and slid lower in the seat. “No, I’m afraid of rejection from a boy.”

  “Jael, you’re beautiful and fun to be around. What could he possibly reject in that?” She opened her door and stepped out. “You coming?”

  “No,” she said, but she opened the door and climbed out anyway.

  Brianna was already heading toward the group of kids, so she grudgingly trudged along behind, wishing she was wearing shorts and flip-flops like her friend instead of Uggs and a skirt. She felt a trickle of sweat slip down her spine.

  “Hey, Brianna. How’s it going?” Jack Hitchens, the closest thing Harriet Thompson High School had to a James Dean, smiled up at them. Or rather, smiled up at Brianna. His mane of chestnut hair grew long and feathered back from his face like a modern day hippy, except he actually washed his and apparently added highlights.

  “Hi, Jack.” Brianna smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. She glanced away from his eager attention to the far side of the group. A scrawny kid with a book in his hand and his head down, oblivious to the rest of them, was her choice of poison. She moved toward him.

  Jack glared after her, his sexy lips pooching out in a pout of resentment. Jael caught his eye and shrugged. “Nerds,” she said, “can’t live with’em, can’t do your homework without’em.”

  Jack laughed and punched the kid next to him in the shoulder. “She’s funny. I thought you said she was weird.” The kid turned around and looked up at her.

  Lyle.

  Jael stared back, a sense of unease suddenly filling her insides. More than just the quivering of a lovesick puppy. She felt as if someone were watching her. Turning away – from eyes that she noticed were specked with gold – she glanced around the small park and along the street, but didn’t see anything odd. She glanced back. His lashes swept down as he returned to the conversation he’d been having before he was so rudely interrupted.

  Jael moved away and joined Brianna where she sat on the ground next to Aiden. “Hi, Aiden,” she said, tilting her head to see the title of the book he was reading. “Wow, really? You came to the park to study the Mayan civilization?”

  He looked up and licked his lips. “We learn from history or we perish.”

  “That’s deep. Like buried, cracked pottery.”

  His eyes lit up. “My dad’s taking me to Peru in the summer to work on an excavation. It’ll be awesome!”

  “Awesome,” Jael agreed and rolled her eyes for Brianna’s benefit.

  Brianna gave what she thought was an inconspicuous jerk of her head toward Lyle. Jael found it to be more like a flashing neon sign heralding her interest in the guy. She felt the color rise in her cheeks and turned her face away. Her friend was going to kill her with kindness.

  Her cell phone buzzed and she slipped it from her pocket. “Brianna, we got to go. My mom’s looking for me.”

  “She’s already at the school? I thought we had another half hour.”

  “Sorry.” Jael stood up and smoothed her skirt.

  The sun slanted downward and shadows stretched out from the trees toward the road. They said their goodbyes and climbed back in the car. Brianna made a u-turn in the road, having to back up once to clear the curb on the other side. The car was pretty big. Luckily, Sunburn, Nevada was a tired little town. Things were slow and people were laidback. Even Officer Wallace, the local traffic cop, took afternoon siestas in the shade of the giant billboard on the edge of town. Jael saw him snoozing every day when her mom drove past the sign on their way home after school.

  Her mom was in the parking lot, waiting, cell phone to her ear. Probably talking to her dad and telling him how she’d gone missing for five whole minutes during the most dangerous time of the day…siesta. She sighed.

  “Your mom’s pretty.” Brianna pulled in beside the old Suburban, her foot on the brake. “Tell her it was my idea to go to the park. Sorry if I got you in trouble.” She put a hand on Jael’s arm. “Call me.”

  “Thanks.” Jael got out of the car and waved as Brianna pulled away.

  Chapter 4

  The smell of a good slayer