Seconds Before Sunrise (The Timely Death Trilogy), page 10
“You didn’t?”
“I’m in a bad mood,” he admitted.
“So, don’t take it out on me,” Crystal said, stomping across the room. She yanked a mirror out of her purse and pushed her bleached hair to the side. Her face wasn’t red anymore, but I doubted she felt any better. Her hands were still shaking.
I cleared my throat to avoid the silence and watched as Robb put his head in his hands. He was a complete wreck, and he wasn’t trying to hide it anymore.
“Is there anything we can do to help?” I asked.
Robb lifted his head, peering between his fingers. “To help what?” His voice cracked.
“You,” I said.
His chestnut eyes looked over my face. He didn’t say anything, but his eyes glazed over as his thoughts consumed him. He was far away, but I didn’t know how far away he actually was.
“We should go out soon,” Crystal suggested, answering for him.
Robb straightened up. “Where?” he asked, his voice rushed with desperation.
“The bars.”
“I don’t know about that,” I started, but Crystal waved my worries away.
“We’re going, and it’ll be a fun way to relax,” she said. “I’m sure you could use a break from your dreams.”
“They aren’t that bad.”
“You freaked out when Robb said he saw something. Not to mention the freak out in the restaurant.” Crystal argued.
Robb agreed. “You need to relax just as much as the rest of us.”
My stomach twisted, but they were right. “I could try it.”
Crystal cheered, “Let’s go this weekend.”
“I need two weeks.” Robb made a money gesture with his fingers. “It’ll be more fun if we wait.”
“Then, it’s decided,” she said. “We’ll go then − just the three of us.”
“No Zac,” Robb clarified.
“Or Linda,” Crystal added.
He laid his hand out for a handshake. “Deal,” he said, and it was done. We were going, and we were going to forget.
Eric
I stretched my legs as far as I could without straining my ribs. I breathed, released, and did it again before looking back at Teresa. She was sitting on the railing overlooking the river, eating a Popsicle despite the cooling weather.
“Aren’t those for the summer?” I asked.
Her blue lips spread into a sugary grin. “I like them more in the cold,” she said. “They don’t melt as fast.”
“You’re strange.”
“And you’re missing out,” she retorted, kicking her legs against the metal. It tinged, vibrating beneath her, and I wondered how the metal hadn’t moved when Jessica had jumped onto it the first time we met.
I looked away, trying to distract myself with the park, but I couldn’t. She was always on my mind, and I hated the fact that she hadn’t come back over since the time she left early. Our talks at school had stopped, and I didn’t understand why.
“How is she?” Teresa asked.
I winced. I was hoping she’d avoid the topic since we just rekindled our friendship.
“She seems good,” I answered, attempting to sound enthusiastic, but Camille knew me better than I wanted her to at the moment.
She plopped down on the grass in front of me, and she pressed her feet against mine. “I’ll help you,” she said, and her black hair bobbed to the right as she swished it out of her eyes.
I grabbed her hands, and she pulled me forward into a stretch that was hard to do on my own. The human healing process was beyond me.
“I am sorry,” she said, pulling me a little bit further.
“About what?”
“What I said to your father.”
I sighed, and she let me go so I could straighten out. Her face was paler than I remembered, and I wondered if it were from training. Most of her free time was spent in the underground shelter.
“Did my father tell you what he gave me?” I asked, thinking of the black box. I had put it in my desk and couldn’t bring myself to take it out again.
“No.” Teresa’s lips thinned. “What did he give you?”
I stretched my arm across my chest. It stung, but it was easier than the other stretch. “I’m going back to school tomorrow.”
“You’re changing the subject.”
“I’ll have a lot of catching up to do,” I continued.
She rolled her eyes. “There’s the Eric I know.”
Her words brought me back to a time she spent chasing Jonathon and me around, struggling to stop us from getting into trouble. Half of the time, she didn’t stop us − she joined.
“Do you ever miss it?” I asked.
She closed her eyes. I hadn’t realized how long her eyelashes were until they were all I had to stare at.
“Sure, but we can’t go back to it.” She knew what I was referring to. She never needed an explanation. “We can only go forward.”
“Who says it’ll be resolved once we win?”
“No one,” she said. “But it’s a start, and I think we could all use a new one.”
I agreed. “You’d be relieved of your guard duties, Ms. Young.”
She lifted her finger, shaking it back and forth. “I’ll always be your guard, Eric,” she said. “Don’t think you’re getting out of this friendship that easily.”
I chuckled, and she reached out for my hands again.
“I thought we were done stretching,” I said.
She leaned further to grab them. “We won’t be done until you’re better.”
“That might take awhile.”
“Stop talking,” she ordered.
I followed her instructions and stared at the grass between my legs, wishing it wasn’t drying up despite the previous rain. If I could choose my powers, I would’ve wanted the ability to freeze time. I didn’t want winter to happen.
I tried to let go of Teresa, but she strained herself to grab my hands, locking me in a position. “Don’t move,” she said, knowing what I had just realized.
The Light was near, and the last thing we needed to do was react to the energy humans couldn’t feel. I continued my stretch with beads of sweat forming on my neck. If they appeared, I didn’t know what we’d do. For once, I wished I had my telepathic capabilities. I could talk to Camille without any hesitation, but we were restrained to human silence.
I moved my leg to the side, and Teresa let my hands go. I stretched once more, and she stood up. “We should go home,” she said, acting better than I could.
I nodded and rushed to the street, knowing Teresa’s BMW was only feet away. We climbed in, and Camille sped off, cranking her radio to drown out our thoughts. I gripped the door handle and waited every agonizing second before we reached my house. She slammed her car into park, and I rushed inside before she could even get out of her car. The front door smacked into the wall, and Mindy jumped from the couch downstairs.
“Eric?” Her voice could’ve split glass. “What’s wrong?”
I caught my breath as Teresa whisked past me. “Just trying to get back into shape,” she dismissed my stepmother’s worries. “Is Mr. Welborn here?”
“No,” she said, sinking back into her chair. “He left with George an hour ago.”
“Thank you,” Teresa said, climbing the stairs without an invite. I followed her, and she silenced my bedroom when we got inside. The Dark energy teased my insides to transform, and I gritted my teeth against the churning sensation.
Teresa, on the other hand, stood still as her body transformed into the half-breed she had always been. I knew she was communicating with someone. When she flickered back into a human, I grabbed her arm.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
Camille stared past me. “The Light,” she said. “They agreed to a war.”
Jessica
“We agreed to come here, didn’t we?”
The fair-haired adults radiated past the pallid couple sitting across from the room. The two couples stared at one another, ignoring their dimly lit surroundings.
“How do I know you are Darthon’s parents?” The pale woman was the furthest from my viewpoint. I didn’t recognize any of them, but she seemed most out of place.
“How do we know you’re Shoman’s?”
A flurry of words resulted in a deafening static until the oldest man slammed his hand on the table. “There isn’t a purpose for us to agree to this,” he said. “We are destined to win.”
“But win what, Bracke?” the illuminated woman revealed his name. “A battle? One death? Who says we’ll give up at that?”
“You won’t have powers,” Bracke argued.
“We still have weapons.”
“We are immune to human devices.”
“Not if you’re a human when we use them.” The woman’s counterpart − an equally glowing man − was threatening.
Bracke grabbed his counterpart’s hand. “Aren’t you confident in Darthon’s capabilities?”
The woman smiled. “But we’re also confident in our own,” she said. “Darthon is not the only one who wants to see the Dark fall.”
Bracke’s grip tightened. “You want bloodshed, even if it means your own people.”
The yearning in their sharpened expressions confirmed it. “It would be a proud death if we died together.” They even spoke in unison. “We may not know Shoman’s birthday, but we can feel it coming. Knowing the date is your only advantage,” they continued. “We know much more.”
…
When I woke up, I was standing in my front yard, and the daylight was smothering my sleepy eyes. I rubbed them with shaky hands, and images of my dream flashed over my eyelids. I couldn’t keep my eyes closed. They sprang open, but the images didn’t disappear. The women. The men. The sound of their voices was unforgettable.
“Jessie?”
I turned around to see my father, returning from work in his pressed clothes. “What are you doing out here?” he asked. “Your mother said you were napping.”
I remembered lying down to rest, but I didn’t know how I’d ended up outside. I swallowed my nerves. “I’m going for a walk,” I said.
“But we should have dinner on the table soon—”
“I’ll be back,” I blurted out, rushing down the sidewalk before he could stop me. I didn’t care if he lectured me later. I had to get away.
The images of the glistening people fluttered over my eyelashes as I forced my tears back. My brain was splitting. The people didn’t even look real. Their colors were washed out, and their words were muddled with death, discussing it like it was a minuscule thing. It didn’t make sense. And my gut knew it involved the boys I’d seen.
My strides widened as I broke out into a run. My hair whipped into my eyes, and it was the only part of my body I could feel. Everything else was numb as if I weren’t truly alive. I felt like I only existed in my dream − a ghost, a deniable existence − and the town passed by in rushed blurs of nothingness. I didn’t stop until it was my only choice.
My knees buckled, and I grabbed the nearest object. The wood prevented me from falling over as I inhaled oxygen with the desperation I had felt all year. The tears I had held back were gone, yet I regretted it. I wanted to feel. I wanted to sob. I was praying for tears, hoping that something – anything − would make me remember the reason I had left the safety of my own bed. But not even a single tear would create itself in my depression. Not one. No matter how hard I tried to concoct one.
“Jess—”
I spun around as if I’d been trained to fight. My hands were up, and my body had relaxed into a stilled stance. It wasn’t until I saw his face that I relaxed.
“Zac?”
In the midst of my panic attack, he had driven up to the side of the curb and parked Robb’s car. I hadn’t even noticed, but I did see what he was looking at my hands. I dropped them to my sides, but he followed my fingertips.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, hoping to distract his attention away from whatever stance had overcome me. I had never even punched someone. “Why do you have Robb’s car?”
Without speaking, he opened the car door and stepped out. He towered over me as he closed in. “Are you running from someone?” he asked, laying his palm on my shoulder.
I leapt away from his touch. “No.”
“You’re jumpy,” he accused.
“I’m not.”
His face flinched, but he didn’t attempt to get closer. “You’re kind of far from home, aren’t you?”
I glanced over my shoulder, surveying the road. He was right. “I’m a long-distance runner,” I lied. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d jogged outside of gym class.
He cocked an eyebrow as if to argue my statement. “You aren’t wearing shoes, Jess.”
I had to look down to confirm it. He was right. Again.
“Feels more natural to me," I stuttered, grateful I’d at least worn sweatpants.
“I didn’t know you worked out,” he continued, and I shoved my hands into my pockets only to take them out again. I wanted my hands to be in front of me, and the gesture didn’t go unnoticed. Zac watched me.
“Why don’t you tell me what you’re running from?”
“Because I’m not running from anything,” I said. “I’m just tired.”
“How about I give you a ride home?”
“I can walk.”
He grabbed my hand, and I froze. Even his loose grip was frightening. “Let me take you,” he said, pointing a finger at my wrist. “You look like you scrapped yourself on that fence.”
I jerked away, more startled by his touch than by the blood I’d seen forming on my skin. It stung.
“If you walk, I’ll only drive next to you until you make it home,” he spoke as he walked back to Robb’s Suburban. “Wouldn’t want something to happen to you between here and there.” His words sounded more like a threat than a comfort.
“I doubt that would happen—”
“This town isn’t as nice as it seems,” he said. He didn’t look at me as he opened the passenger door.
I hesitated. “Are you seriously going to follow me?”
His chuckle shook me. “Try walking.”
He meant it. I groaned and stomped over to the passenger side. Without the adrenaline, I was starting to feel the ground beneath my bare feet, and I had to admit it felt nice to sit down. I shut the door, and he drove away.
“Thank you,” he said, even though it should’ve been the other way around. “I wish you would’ve agreed to it sooner.”
I glared out the window. “I told you, I was—”
“Exercising,” he finished, and I saw his momentary stare in the window’s reflection. “I don’t know why you feel the need to lie to me.”
“I’m not lying.” This time, I was facing him.
“Your feet,” he said, pointing to the floor. “They’re not calloused enough for your alleged technique.”
I squeaked and slapped a hand over my mouth. He didn’t even jump at my sudden noise. He was as calm as the people in my dream that caused it all.
“It’s personal,” I said, hoping he’d stop prying.
“Isn’t everything with you?” he asked.
I curled my fingers into fists. “Did you offer me a ride to mock me?”
He didn’t respond as he turned the car down the street I lived on. “I remember where you live from prom,” he murmured, explaining something I’d never asked him to. “I’ve never apologized for what I did that night.”
My head throbbed. I had no idea what he was talking about.
“I shouldn’t have kissed you without asking,” he continued.
I stopped him. “What are you talking about?” I panicked as Crystal’s words from the restaurant resonated through me. She had said the same thing.
Zac blinked. “You don’t remember?”
“No.”
His face twisted like all of his features were trying to meld together.
“I’m sorry,” I started, but he stopped me.
“I suppose that’s a good thing,” he said, but his voice was strained. “It means we can start over.” We − like he had grouped us together.
The tires crunched as he pulled into the driveway, taking one inch at a time. It felt like we’d never get to the front door, and I straightened my legs to prevent them from shaking. When he parked, I rushed for the exit, but the lock clicked.
My heart squeezed.
“Do you dislike me, Jess?” The whisper didn’t help.
I gripped the door handle. “Why would you ask that?”
“Why would you avoid answering it?” he retorted. His cheekbones looked higher beneath the overhead light.
“I think you’re a nice guy,” I said, but his expression didn’t budge.
“You’re still avoiding it.” His intensity was suffocating the few inches between us.
I couldn’t breathe. My chances of successfully lying had diminished.
“I thought it was from prom,” he admitted. “But it can’t be that if you don’t—” He didn’t finish his sentence.
“Thanks for the ride,” I excused, yanking the lock up without permission. I pushed the door open and sprang out, slamming it behind me before I mustered the energy to run inside. I didn’t want to be alone with Zac. Not even for a second.
Eric
“Are you sure you don’t want to come, Eric?” Mindy asked, twirling her nimble fingers through her red curls. Her wedding ring shined in the setting sun.
“I’m fine,” I dismissed myself as Noah hobbled by, tripping over his suitcase. I laid my hand on his head and lifted it from his hands. He froze as I avoided looking at the surprise on his face. “Don’t strain yourself,” I muttered, walking over to the packed car. I found a place for his belongings and shut the door.
When I turned around, Mindy perked up. “That was nice of you.”
“He’ll be able to get it himself soon,” I said.
Noah straightened his shoulders. “I could’ve gotten it myself,” he argued, but his voice was light. He was happy.
