And then I heard her voice.
I froze. Alex emerged from the trees near the river with Ashe and William. Others were with them, including Julia. I was so incensed that as Isaac took my arm into his hand there were no euphoric tremors this time. I could think of nothing but Alex as she walked toward us boastfully. A proud, sinister smile etched in her face. She was completely willing to be with them and nothing I could do or say was ever going to change that.
I felt Isaac’s grip tighten around my arm. Zia and her brothers crowded closer behind us.
Ashe, standing in front of Alex grinned and said, “You surprise me, Isaac. Never thought you’d bring her here.”
“Hi Dria,” said Alex, “how’s that bitch Beverlee doing these days?”
I felt my face tighten with anger. “What’s wrong with you? Beverlee’s so worried about you she mopes around all day and even started smoking again.”
“Gotta die from something.” Alex scoffed.
Julia, hanging all over the shortest, stockiest of their group, said with a smirk, “Are you and Harry a thing now?”
“Ummm, no,” said Harry. “What’s up with you anyway, Jewels? Not like you.”
“Oh shut up, Harry,” Julia replied, “You never knew me well enough to know what I’m like.”
“Glad for that,” Harry mumbled under his breath.
“Remember me?” William added, looking at me now while rubbing his chin with his fingertips as if to bring to memory what I had done to him. I was ready to punch him again any second.
“Yeah I do,” I answered hatefully, “and I have nothing to say to you.”
“If your aim was better,” William said, “I would’ve—“
“You’d what?” Isaac growled, stepping forward.
William smiled bitterly. “Oh please,” he said, “spare me the cocky, protective display. I was going to say I would’ve fallen in love with her.”
“The day William falls in love I’ll kiss you on the mouth,” Ashe, standing next to Alex, said to another.
“Shut up, Ashe,” said William.
I hated them both; especially Ashe who had such a spell on my sister that it was sickening. I hated how he touched her and how she seemed to love it. I knew exactly how Beverlee felt last night when they came to our house. I was ready to tear into Ashe right then.
“Why are you letting him grope you like that?” I said. “It’s disgusting.”
“Have to grow up sometime,” Alex replied just before turning her chin and letting her tongue snake out to trace Ashe’s lips.
They couldn’t keep their hands off each other. My palms were sweating, my fists clenched. And then I felt Isaac’s hand move down and interlock with my fingers. My heart jumped in my chest. The war going on inside of me between Euphoria and Infuriation was overwhelming.
Alex broke away slowly from Ashe and stepped up closer to me. Isaac’s hand tightened around mine.
“Dria,” said Alex, “can I talk to you alone?”
“No,” Isaac interrupted, “you can’t.”
I looked at him reassuringly. “It’s okay,” I said, “I’ll be alright. I need to talk to my sister.”
Hesitantly, Isaac let go of my hand. I saw Alex mock him from the side, but there was no time to defend him. This was my chance, and somehow it felt like my last chance to talk some sense into her and make her come home.
“Don’t leave the parking lot, Adria,” Zia said. “Seriously.”
I nodded, agreeing.
The tension between the two groups as Alex and I walked away was nerve-racking. I was so afraid a fight would break out. We walked several feet away and stopped next to a hollowed-out tree trunk someone had been using to contain a campfire. I could easily detect the scent of wood and leaves that had burned in it recently.
I wasted no time.
“What is your problem!”
“Oh stop it,” said Alex, “we’re not little girls anymore. I tried to make you understand that before we were shipped off to this shithole of a town. I planned to move out of Jeff’s; wanted you to go with me.”
“That was different,” I snapped. “You weren’t...” I tried to find the phrase, “...you weren’t like you are now. You were normal. My sister. Now you’re...you’re someone I don’t know.”
Alex dropped her voice and looked at me with a serious face. “You’re right,” she said, “I’m nothing like I used to be. But Dria, my change is for the better. I’ve never felt so independent, so protected. I feel strong—you can’t imagine.”
“Well, make me understand,” I pleaded. My anger subsided and was quickly replaced by sadness. “Look,” I said, placing my hand on hers, “I admit living with Beverlee and Uncle Carl isn’t living with mom, or being out on your own, but they’re great. I actually like living there and I don’t get why you just left, or why you’d bring Ashe to our house and openly disrespect Beverlee like that. She never did anything to deserve any of this.”
Alex moved her hand from mine.
“This isn’t about Beverlee and Carl,” she said. “This is about you and me. You’re my sister and you should be with me, not with family members who only took us out of obligation and definitely not with scum like that.”
I took immediate offense.
“You’re calling my friends scum?” I snarled. “My friends didn’t try to attack me. My friends have been there for me while you haven’t been. My friends aren’t part of some freakish cult that lure girls and turn them into hateful sluts.” I regretted that a bit, but it needed to be said.
Alex took it better than I expected. She scoffed and said with that eerie smile again, “Say whatever you want, but just know that you’ll have to make up your mind soon and if you can’t, I’ll have to do it for you.”
I drew my chin back in surprise. “What’s that supposed to mean?” I demanded. “And besides, my mind is made up. I would never follow you with them.”
Alex leaned her head toward me, practically touching my ear with her lips. Her breath smelled rancid. “You know too much, Dria. And I have no control over what they have to do to protect what you know.” She paused. I could’ve sworn she actually sniffed me. “Think about it. I’ll tell them you agreed to at least think about it, but it’ll only buy you a very short time. After that, you’re on your own.”
I couldn’t believe my own sister was threatening me, that she would side with anyone else who would threaten me. I was reeling inside, but the situation had changed from a sibling disagreement, to what felt like nothing less than a life or death ultimatum. I thought about what Isaac and Zia told me about the Vargas family. It was true after all.
Tears swelled in my eyes, but I managed to hold them back.
“How could you do this?” I said. “That family is dangerous. How could you stand by and let them threaten me?”
I wouldn’t let her speak. “And how do I know too much? I don’t know anything about them! Except that they’re evil!”
Isaac was approaching from the side; his shadow advancing largely out ahead of him.
“I can’t say anything else,” said Alex, “just remember what I told you. Drop the dead weight and come stay with your flesh and blood where you belong.”
Alex left me standing there.
I hated her in that moment. Part of me wanted to cry, the other part wanted to jump on her from behind and beat the sense into her that was obviously not getting in any other way.
“Adria,” said Isaac, “we need to go.”
Julia and Harry were shouting at each other. She was in his face, urging him on, taunting him.
“You’re a stupid, wannabe skater,” Julia shrieked. “I never liked you anyway; always wondered why Sebastian did.”
“Don’t bring him into this,” Harry shouted, “I bet you don’t even know what happened to him. You’ve been too busy with...them.”
Harry was doing his best to hold back saying the things he really wanted to say.
I rushed toward them and took Harry by th
e arm. “Come on, let’s get out of here,” I said.
Just then, Julia’s boyfriend stepped between Harry and me and grabbed Harry by the front of his shirt. In less than two seconds, I was eating asphalt and heard fighting all around me. As I tried to crawl away and get to my feet, my hand was stepped on and then one body fell right on top of me. My ribs hurt and I could feel my face burning where the asphalt had scraped my chin. People in the crowd who were not involved in the brawl were shouting in the sidelines.
“Fight! Fight!”
“Oh shit,” said another voice, “did you see that!”
I heard a girl screaming, “Someone do something!”
“Kick-his-ass!” shouted another voice.
I stumbled out of the center of the chaos and tried to pull my senses together. I could barely tell who was fighting whom, or who was winning what; everything was a blur. But I did see Alex and Dwarf fighting.
Dwarf fighting Alex? Why would he be hitting my sister?
I was going to jump in and help her—I was on Dwarf’s side, but this was not a fair fight. To my shock, Alex dropkicked Dwarf square in the stomach and sent him soaring across the parking lot. He rolled once and then with such grace, sprung up from the ground and landed on his hands and feet like a cat.
Shock beset me, but I didn’t have much time to try understanding it.
Isaac was fighting William. Zia was fighting Julia and had Julia on the ground. Damien and Harry teamed up against Ashe and Julia’s boyfriend.
I just stood there, paralyzed.
Then a man emerged from the darkness as if he were part of the shadows.
It was surreal how everything just stopped. The fighting, the shouting, the excitement of the onlookers; all at once ceased in an instant.
It felt like I was the only one among them who breathed.
The man walked slowly onto the blacktop, his hands folded together and resting on his backside. He walked with such dominance and authority; his black hair pulled into a ponytail behind him. Both arms were canvases for tattoos, even along the tops of his fingers, which I noticed as he unfolded his hands and let them rest at his sides.
Suddenly, the spectators broke the calm, all running for their cars. Some dashed away on foot. Tires squealed and headlights bounced through the darkness until they were too far away to see anymore.
It was quiet again. It seemed like many minutes had passed before the man spoke.
“In public is not the place,” he said.
Somehow, I knew this man was not here to break up the fight for the sake of doing the right thing. That cold and calculated look on his face suggested a man of power, not of morals.
“That law has never stopped them before,” Isaac said to the man.
A faint, yet sinister grin crept up on his face, but he dismissed Isaac altogether and looked at me.
“You must be Alexandra’s sister,” he said. “You favor her.” The man then said to Alex without looking at her, “We have much to discuss later.”
“You don’t have anything to say to my sister,” I demanded, stepping up. “I don’t know how you did it, but I’m not going to stand by and let you brainwash her!”
Isaac grabbed me by the waist and pulled my back into his chest. “Don’t say anything else,” he told me. “Keep your mouth shut.”
At first, I tried to break away from Isaac, but his grip was unrelenting.
“You should not have come here,” the man said to Isaac, “any of you. You should have stayed where you were and out of our affairs.”
I thought he was talking about The Cove. That would have made sense, but as the man continued talking, I became more confused.
“Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia,” he said. “Trajan should pick a spot and mind his own business.”
“Everything you do is Trajan’s business,” Isaac said, “especially when it comes to Innocents.”
Isaac passed me to Zia as if I was a possession and they were trading watch over me.
“You and Harry get in the Jeep,” Zia said.
I looked at her argumentatively.
“Go. Now,” she demanded.
I felt like a child, but as much as I hated it, I knew I had better do what she said.
As Harry and I walked quickly toward the Jeep I heard the man say, “You know it’ll happen—“
“If you have anything to say,” Isaac interrupted, “say it to Trajan.”
“I do so plan on it,” the man replied.
I WATCHED ALEX AND the others disappear with the man through the woods. Not until they were completely out of sight did Isaac and his family rejoin Harry and me. No one spoke on the ride back, except for Dwarf who had started to comment on how good his fighting skills were getting. Zia shut him up just by looking at him.
I may have had plenty of reason to demand answers, but I was much too upset thinking about Alex. It was over. I lost my sister for good and that was something I never prepared myself for. Rebellion I prepared for. I also went over in my mind what would happen if we ended up in a physical fight, which had never once happened in our lives. I prepared to face the fact that she was in love with the worst piece of scum on Earth, and even thought about her ending up pregnant. Horrible things. Unforgivable things.
Losing my sister completely to something other than death was not something I could ever accept.
But I knew she was gone.
Damien drove me home a route I had never gone before and it seemed to take forever. I was lost in a trance while Isaac held out his hand to help me down from the Jeep in my driveway.
“If your sister comes here tonight,” Isaac began, “alone or with anyone, you call me.” He slipped a piece of paper into my hand with his phone number scribbled on it.
“Will you?” he said.
“Uhhh, yeah, no problem.” I put the paper in the back pocket of my jeans.
“Look at me,” said Isaac. He placed his hands on my shoulders. Any other time I probably would’ve been glowing, but my crush on Isaac Mayfair was the last thing I could think about. I did look up at him though. I saw how his perfect dark eyes regarded me with care and how he seemed so thoughtful beneath such a hard and attractive visage. This was the first time since I’d met him that I knew he cared for me.
“We’ll be watching out for you and your family,” he said.
“Thanks.”
I heard Isaac sigh. “Don’t worry about your sister, either,” he added. “As much as you hate where she’s at and who she’s with, like we said before, I can assure you they won’t hurt her.”
I found no comfort in his words, but I didn’t want him to know that.
Harry followed me up the dirt driveway and toward the porch, but I stopped before I got too far and said to Zia, “Thanks for taking me, even if it didn’t turn out like I had hoped.”
Zia waved apologetically and they drove off.
“Do you think they’ll mind I come in for a while?” said Harry.
I didn’t even think to ask Zia if they could give Harry a ride home. He had walked to my house earlier, but it was still daylight then. His car had been in the shop for two days.
“They won’t mind.” I said. “I’ll see if Uncle Carl can give you a ride later.”
Beverlee and Uncle Carl welcomed Harry and even told him to help himself to the kitchen if he was hungry. I needed someone to talk to, someone who had been there during the fight. Harry was better than any other, especially since he had become my closest friend. Uncle Carl agreed to give him a ride home in a few hours even though it would be late.
And Beverlee knew right away that Harry and I were just friends and there was nothing more between us. It was fine that I had a ‘boy’ up in my room alone with me, late at night. Somehow, I knew if it had been Isaac instead, Beverlee would not let him past the den.
“I really screwed that up,” said Harry. He plopped down on the chair next to my window.
“What do you mean?” I said.
“I made an idiot of mysel
f in front of Zia.” He put his elbows on his legs and leaned over forward. “She probably thinks I’m a joke.”
I smiled. “Harry, she doesn’t think that at all.”
“How do you know? You haven’t had time to talk to her since it happened.”
“No, but a girl knows when another girl is totally not interested in someone.”
Harry straightened his back some, looking across at me. “You think she’s interested in me?”
“Now, I’m not sure about that,” I said, sitting on the end of my bed, “I just know she’s not disinterested.”
“Well, that doesn’t make any sense.”
“Look,” I said, “if Zia was repulsed by you, you’d know it. Really though, I think you might have impressed her.”
Harry’s brows wrinkled. “Impressed her?” he said. “I get into a shouting match with another girl and then get my ass kicked by her boyfriend. I doubt that impressed anyone.”
I shook my head, smiling and then tossed off my shoes. “From what I saw, Julia got what she deserved. You did good by not punching her in the face, even if she’s a girl. Secondly, you were holding your own in that fight. I admit I was a little impressed.”
“Really?” he said.
“Yes, really,” I answered, “but me, on the other hand, got knocked on the ground, stepped on and crushed by no telling who, and I didn’t even get a punch in myself.” I laughed then and said, “If anyone looked like an idiot, it was definitely me.” I didn’t really care that that was true.
“Well,” Harry said with a grin, “a guy knows when another guy is interested in a girl and you could’ve puked in Isaac’s lap and he would still have a thing for you.”
My smile was warm and thankful. I needed to hear that. Well, in a roundabout way.
“That man,” said Harry, “he must be their dad or something.” He shook his head and shuddered. “Glad he’s not my dad—dude has some issues.”
Harry was right about that, but he didn’t know half of what I knew. That wasn’t saying much though because I was pretty clueless and in the dark about it all still.
Harry and I stayed up all night talking. I felt like I could tell him anything and I pretty much did. It was like having my sister back, when we would talk for hours about Sam Winchester and school and everything in-between. Since before Alex and I left Georgia, I hadn’t been able to confide freely in anyone until Harry came along. We were like two gossiping teenagers, but even better since he was a guy. Our gossip wasn’t one-sided. He offered a guy’s perspective and I offered the opposite. I knew he wasn’t going to go to school the next day and talk about me behind my back to someone else in our group.