Chapter 9-Secrets
Last night hit me again like a ton of bricks and knocking the air out of my lungs. How could this all be happening to me? I must have said it out loud to myself at least a thousand times before I made it to Alyssa’s house. I knew it wouldn’t change anything or make my life any less complicated. Two guys I liked, powers that have seriously wounded someone, a family secret and the knowledge that sometime soon I might become the vampire bride of an evil ruler. The thought turned my stomach, making me want to run home and curl up under the covers again. But I didn’t, I knocked on the door and waited. Destiny’s was going through some remodeling so we had to switch our study session location and Alyssa was the first to volunteer. She greeted me dressed in jeans and a brown hoodie that had Woodstock on the front. As she waved me in, she pulled her striped hair up into a ponytail.
“What took so long?” Zilla asked pulling out her book, pen and spiral-bound notepad.
“I walked today. The weather was really nice so I decided to take the long way,” I replied. That wasn’t a lie for the most part, since the sky had been a light blue with puffy wisps of white clouds scattered everywhere.
Zilla frowned at me, but didn’t press the issue. “Okay, let’s get started with the math assignment.”
I pulled out my supplies including several pencils and a calculator then began working. I tapped my finger restlessly on the page opened before me, I couldn’t concentrate. Shapes and numbers floated around my head, but all I kept thinking about was what Draven had said the night before. Jett nudged me with his elbow and whispered, “Is everything okay?”
I gulped. “Yeah. Why, what’s up?”
He scanned the room making sure nobody was paying attention and said, “You look pale and tired like you haven’t slept in weeks. I heard about what happened to Luke and just wanted to make sure everything was all right.” A long pause ensued while he searched my facial expressions trying to discern something that I clearly wasn’t giving away. As if on cue, everyone looked up at the same time with accusations written on their faces. They must have heard what he said and pretended not to notice until now. I couldn’t believe it, the people I trusted more than anyone in the world were regarding me as if I had a scarlet letter tattooed on my forehead. Granted, I did hurt Luke, albeit on accident in self-defense, but I didn’t want to explain myself here and now.
“So,” I said, keeping my voice as neutral as possible, “what makes any of you think I had something to do with what happened to Luke?”
Alyssa eyed me nervously and moistened her lips, “Were not saying you had anything to do with it directly, only that it’s a little suspicious. I mean, he went over to your house to talk and now he’s in ICU. We’re your friends and we are here for you no matter what. If there was something you wanted to tell us, your secret would be safe. There is a no judgment zone with all of us, you know that.”
I nodded and glanced back at my book, not saying anything. What would be the harm in telling them everything that happened to me so far? Maybe they could help me figure out a way to deal with it? What if they just outcast me even more for it? Wielding fire isn’t an exactly everyday occurrence and magick in general is just unheard of, except in storybooks. It’s a large possibility that I could wind up with no friends and having to cope on my own, not that I don’t feel like that already. But I should probably wait until I absolutely have to tell them.
“Nothing serious happened, he just came over and I told him to get lost for good. End of story.”
“So you don’t know anything about the third-degree burns then?” She questioned trying to call my bluff.
“What are you trying to accuse me of?” I asked outraged. “Do you think I doused him in gasoline and lit a match? Not that I wouldn’t have considered that as an option, but really, I thought you guys knew me better than that.”
“Callie, that’s not what she meant,” Zilla said trying to calm me down.
“Its fine,” I said gathering my belongings, “I’m going to head home, not feeling very honor roll student right now. Anyone have more interrogating to do before I go?”
Nobody said anything else as I shoved everything into my backpack, headed downstairs and out the front door. I may not have been innocent, far from it in fact, but for people who call themselves my friends, they might as well have been strangers to me. I tromped down the barren sidewalk, kicking a medium sized rock along when I heard a horn blare. I tried to ignore it, but Zilla honked again, zoomed forward and pulled her lavender colored Ford Thunderbird up next the curb.
“Get in,” she said. I hesitated. She rolled her eyes, “Just get in the car.”
I climbed in and let my bag fall to the floor. She reached forward, twisted the knob for the radio to off, put the car in drive and hit the gas. “I know what you’re thinking,” she said finally.
I leaned my head on my hand and stared out the window. “Do you now?” I replied sarcastically.
She took her eyes off the road long enough to flick me on the shoulder. “I do, and I know that you’re hiding something and it’s upsetting you. I also know you didn’t want to talk about it in room full of people you thought would judge you. Oh, and that you love to eat those canned baby corns with ranch.”
I smiled. “The baby corn’s thing isn’t really a secret anymore, that cat was thrown out of the bag a long time ago.” I paused to consider all of my options and decided that if I tell her everything and she thinks I’m crazy then I could probably live with that. Besides, if I had to keep it all inside any longer I was going to drive myself bananas.
“There’s a lot that I have to tell you. Some of it I don’t even understand yet myself, but I will tell you as much as I can.” She nodded and I spilled everything, well almost everything anyway. The dreams, the fire power, the weird attraction to Cole, the creature attacking me in class, the beach, the burning sensations, the fights with Luke and finally my basement findings. I left out the whole part about Draven. Since she probably couldn’t see him anyway, it didn’t make much sense to tell her. Even revealing as much as I had was huge weight off of my shoulders. She didn’t interrupt me and by the time I was done talking we had arrived at my house. She switched off the engine and turned to face me, her expression unreadable. “Show me.”
I frowned. “Show you what?”
“Your powers of course,” she said as if I should have been able to discern that small tidbit from everything else I had just told her.
“I don’t think I can. It’s not like a light switch that you can flip on and off Zilla.”
She nodded. “Just give it a try for me, please. Outside the car of course, wouldn’t want to catch my baby on fire,” she said grinning and patting the dashboard.
For someone who had just been told something completely incomprehensible she seemed to be in great humor and now I was becoming more and more confused. “Am I to understand that you find this whole situation to your amusement?” I questioned.
She nudged me, “Of course not. If it makes you feel better you can consider this like a test.”
“Why would I need to take a test? Don’t you believe me?” I gaped. How could she convince me to tell her everything if she was just going to turn around and distrust me? What kind of friend would do that?
“I do, it’s just that it’s a little hard to believe is all.” I opened the door and started walking away from her towards the house. She stumbled after me. “Where are you going?” she asked reaching for my arm.
“Inside of course, can’t very well go showing off my new “talent” to the whole neighborhood,” I replied mockingly.
“Right,” she said following me inside skipping. I wish I could be as joyous about all of this as she could. Maybe her positive attitude would rub off on me? Doubtful. Good thing no one was home again, I thought as I wound my way around the dining room table and into the kitchen. I spun around to face her as she sidled onto a
bar stool, folded her hands neatly in her lap and gazed at me levelly. I groaned. “Is this really necessary? I mean what if I can’t control it or something?” I asked.
“Well wouldn’t it be better if you practiced enough to be able to control it then?” she replied logically. “Besides, it’s an added bonus that I’m here too in case anything should go wrong. Right?”
She had a point, but I wasn’t certain she knew the extent of this craziness I was about to unleash here. I sighed resignedly, put my arms out in front of me and closed my eyes. I concentrated on everything I possibly could involving fire--the smell of brimstone, lava and the various colors of red, orange, white and even blue flames. I imagined a house ablaze and the heat that would emanate from it, trying to draw as much of its essence into me as I could. I opened my eyes slowly and found nothing. Exactly what I thought would happen. I stamped my foot exasperated. “I told you it wouldn’t work.”
“Stop being so dramatic, maybe you didn’t try hard enough. Wait, I know, tell me what you were thinking or feeling during the times you got that burning sensation.”
I thought back on it. The first time I was dreaming and I couldn’t really remember anything from it. The second time was at school when Luke tried to kiss me, then the volleyball tournament when I found out about Luke’s lie and then when he came over and tried to hurt me. There was probably more, but those were the basics. “Uhm, I think it might happen when I’m angry or scared, something like that.”
“Okay good, I have an idea. Take three deep cleansing breathes and close your eyes.” I did as she said, inhaling and exhaling as deeply as possible to relax my muscles and mind. Then I gently closed my eyelids, waiting for her next instruction. “Now think back on the night with Luke, try to remember whatever it was he was doing or saying that set you off.”
My mind tried repeatedly to block out that unpleasant incident, but I knew if I was going to perform for her I’d have to dredge it up. I remained focused and instantly went back to when Luke had me pinned against the counter, pulling as much of that fear into me now. That’s when it hit me. It started in my hands and gradually culminated my whole body so that when I opened my eyes everything had an orange tint to it. I glanced around trying to absorb my surroundings through this weird veil of color when I noticed that Zilla had gotten up from the table and was moving closer to me. She didn’t exactly look frightened as I originally thought she’d be, more like stunned as she reached into her purse and pulled out her compact. She titled it at just the right angle and I gasped as my heart skipped a beat. Every last inch of my body, from the top of my head to the tip of my toes, was literally on fire. I looked like a flaming angel, absolutely terrifying if you ask me. I lifted my hands up towards my face, inspecting both sides, and then dropped my head to the floor to check out my feet. I got a wild idea and tried clasping my palms together which caused the flames to rise higher.
I stood there completely mortified until I staggered forward almost falling flat on my face, feeling excessively weak and panicked. Okay now how to make it stop? If getting myself all worked up caused it to ignite, then maybe if I think of something calming it would fade? I pictured ocean waves lapping at my ankles under pale moonlight, surrounded by stars and felt the heat glowing through me subside. I took a gander at my clothes and everything was still in tact. No trace of burn marks which I found odd considering what happened with Luke. I wouldn’t even have believed what just happened if it hadn’t been for the look on Zilla’s face. Her jaw was practically dragging on the floor. When we locked eyes I expected her to throw her arms up above her head and dip out, but she just smiled as if this was the most normal thing in the world.
“That was off the chains,” she said clapping.
“What? You’ve got to be kidding me. I thought you’d be like freaked out or something and run screaming from my house.”
“Nah, I dig it. The supernatural stuff tickles my fancy,” she said through giggles. I must have had the craziest expression on my face because she added, “Don’t look at me like that I’m not going to sell you to the circus or anything.”
I broke out in laughter and then began sobbing at the same time. It was such a relief knowing that I had someone else I could talk to about this kind of stuff now, weird as it was. She grinned suspiciously and I knew whatever it was couldn’t be good. “I have something to tell you too. I would have mentioned it sooner, but I guess I felt the same as you.” She hugged me, walked back over to the counter and sat down again. I had no idea what she was talking about and my earlier relief now turned into despair. “Okay, brace yourself.”
“For what?” I asked completely dumbfounded.
“You’ll see,” she said cryptically. She shut her eyes and went very still as her body slumped forward onto the top of the cool marble countertop. I gasped and ran toward her nearly knocking over a bowl of fruit in the process. I gripped her shoulders and began to shake her forcefully, but got no response. What was going on? Had I done something in my little escapade to harm her that neither of us noticed until it was too late? I was reaching for the phone, a lump welling up in my throat, when I felt a light tapping near the base of my neck. I jumped up and spun around. Zilla was standing behind me. Well, I think it was her anyway. All her same features: golden blonde hair, small curved nose and pouty lips, but in a glowing ghostly type silhouette. Instinctively, I reached my hand out towards her and it went right through. How could my hand make contact with Draven, but go right through Zilla? I looked at her drooped body and then back to her again, stunned.
She did a little twirl, stopped directly in front of me and started talking. It sounded far away and whispery so it was hard to understand, but I got the gist of it. “It happened a few days ago. I freaked originally, but then I decided it might come in handy so I’ve been practicing. I can do it from pretty far distances now too,” she said proud of herself.
An eerie rendition of the Twilight Zone theme song starting playing in my head and I decided I needed a little break from all of the revelations that had surfaced today. “Okay, time to come back now. I think we’ve had enough fun for one day. Plus, we need to talk about all of this because it’s really starting to worry me.” She nodded her approval and winked. I watched her fade until there was nothing left but air. I reached out for a second time and brushed the space where she had been standing, but still felt nothing so I turned around to find her sitting upright again.
Her lips curled up into a grin. “Now that was awesome,” she said.
I ignored her momentarily and reached into the fridge to grab two bottles of water. I handed one off to her and proceeded towards my bedroom. I didn’t bother looking back because I knew she would follow. I plopped down on the bed and closed my eyes hoping to erase the epic admissions of the past few days. The bed rippled in response to Zilla’s weight as she lay down beside me. Her hand found mine and squeezed. “It’s going to be okay,” she said reassuringly.
I didn’t want to sound skeptical so I just didn’t respond. Every part of me wanted to believe what she said, but couldn’t. You don’t get attacked by weird creatures, discover you have crazy powers and live to tell about it, right? I sniffled a little. “I’m scared Zilla. This is all so new and odd. I just can’t seem to figure out what the heck is going on, especially now that I found out you have powers as well.”
We rolled to face each other and she said, “I don’t know what the deal is either, but I do know that if we stick together now we can hopefully, fingers crossed, accomplish anything.”
I unconsciously started tracing the tattoo on my arm again. I do it so often when I’m lost in thought or worried that it’s like second nature to me. Zilla caught me in mid swipe and pulled my arm up next to hers. She has one too, but it’s a lavender heart with rings around it and a unicorn horn near the top. She touched mine with her index finger and I did the same in return. I wondered if she was recalling the
day with the red wagon again, I know I was. Who could forget such a monumental change in our friendship? I didn’t know anyone else in this world who would sacrifice their own life for me, except her. And maybe Draven now, but who knows. We stayed like that for quite some time before anyone spoke up.
“We need to make a promise to tell each other everything,” she said raising an eyebrow. “It was really upsetting to discover that we were both keeping secrets and if we had just been honest with each other from the beginning we could have gone through it together. So, with that being said, hold out your hand.” I nodded in agreement and lifted my hand up in the air. I wanted to come clean about Draven right then, but I knew I couldn’t. She thought I had already spilled everything and if I told her there was more she might be upset, it just wasn’t good timing. She lifted her palm and placed it against mine. “Repeat after me,” she said. “I do solemnly swear to keep our friendship as strong as the love in my heart. I will, at all times, be honest, trustworthy and loyal. This I swear.” I followed her direction carefully and when we were done we both sighed and relaxed back into the bed.
“You said your mom has a locked room that leads to the basement?” she asked out of the blue.
“Yeah, but the keyword there is locked. I had a hard time getting into it before and that was when I knew where my parents were. Why?”
“Just curious. I mean if you found something good in there the first time, maybe on a second visit you’d find something even better. What say you?” she asked waggling her eyebrows.
I smacked her with a pillow. “I say you’re crazy.”
“Really Callie, come on, what would your parents do if they caught you anyway? Ground you?”My phone buzzed and I was glad for the distraction. I reached over and pulled it off the side table. Cole. I smiled and opened up the text message that read, “Hey, I just wanted to tell you that I can’t wait for tonight.”
I had completely forgotten about our date and immediately felt guilty. I had been eagerly awaiting tonight. So how did I manage to lose track of the days? Zilla giggled and made kissing noises as I fumbled with the keypad, finally tapping in, “Me too, any hints on where you’re taking me?”
“Nope, sorry. I can tell you that you may dress up if you want though it’s not necessary. Oh, and be ready by 6:00 p.m.”
I looked over at the clock and panicked a little when I realized I only had about an hour to get ready. “See you soon,” I replied scrambling out of bed. Zilla grabbed my arm and held me in place. “Don’t worry, I will make sure you look bellissimo,” she said kissing her fingers for emphasis. I groaned at the idea of another makeover session with Zilla. Things usually did not go well for me on those occasions. Last time she put me in a burgundy jumper with black knee highs and Mary Jane’s. I looked like a naughty school girl. I hated it, but I couldn’t deny the fact that it had been well received from guys around town. Well, at least I was able to avoid the basement subject for now.
“Fine,” I said relenting, “but nothing too extreme.”