Arianna Rose: The Gathering (Part 3) (8 page)

She watched as the girl passed.  Clad from head to toe in black clothing, the girl, sensing Arianna’s ey
es on her, narrowed her heavily lined eyes and pursed her lips.  She offered a look of annoyance then said, “If you’re looking for a date, sweetheart, look elsewhere.  I’m not into chicks.”

Ordinarily, Arianna would have lost her temper
at someone mouthing off at her as the girl had.  However, she found herself admiring the girl’s courage instead of resenting it.  Only a person who could back her smart mouth with brawn – or supernatural powers in her case – would be that aggressive.  In the case of the girl, her tiny stature left only one other option: she was a witch.  Arianna was growing increasingly convinced of it. 

“Ha,” Arianna laughed and acted against her trademark
tendency for knee-jerk reactions.  “Don’t flatter yourself.  If I were into chicks, which I’m not, you definitely wouldn’t be my type.”

The girl paused and stared hard at Arianna.  Arianna did not look away. 
She’d expected to feel the buzz of the girl’s energy, strong and similar to the intensity of the pull she’d felt seconds ago.  But so far, she felt nothing.  Was she losing her mind thinking an ordinary girl had powers? She wondered.  She’d also half expected a slow smile spread across the girl lips at her quick comeback, for that matter, and was surprised when it did not. 

“Shit, tough crowd,” Arianna mumbled.  “I’m Arianna.”

The girl did not answer, just stared at her blankly.

“Do you have a name?” Arianna asked huffily.

“I’m Beth,” the girl replied begrudgingly.

“Now we’re making progress,” Arianna said sarcastically.

“New?” Beth surprised her by stating more than asking with a roll of her eyes.

“
Yep, it’s my first day,” Arianna replied dryly.

“Huh, good luck,” Beth
snarled and started to walk away.  She paused only to look to the front doors.

A
small commotion had begun near the main entrance.  A group of eight students, five boys and three girls, had just walked in.  Arianna had no idea who they were, but judging from the aggravated look on Beth’s face, she assumed they were not friends of hers.  Curiosity nagged her brain so she homed in on conversations around her while Beth glanced back over her shoulder at them.  From what she could hear, the group was the popular crew in the school.  Chatter ranged from subtle admiration to unhealthy adoration.

“Who a
re they?” Arianna asked Beth and nodded toward them.

“
Assholes,” she replied under her breath and walked away as the group approached.

They circled around
Arianna just as Beth left.  She shifted her attention from the conversations she’d been eavesdropping on in the hallway to the people before her.  She tried to tune into the faint hum of energy that existed when she was in the presence of fellow witches.  She’d thought she’d sensed it seconds earlier, the vaguest trace of a current rippled through her when she’d first seen Beth.  But now, she felt nothing.  The faint hum had vanished.  The group appeared to be run-of-the-mill human beings.

“
Hey, who’re you,” a girl asked Arianna.

“Arianna.  And you are?” Arianna answered icily.

“Oh sorry,” the girl said.  “I’m Jess.  This is your first day?”

“Yep, how’d you guess?”

“Uh, you have that shell-shocked holy-shit-this-is-my-first-day look on your face.”

“Huh, is it that obvious
?” Arianna asked.

“Totally.”

“Wow, that’s embarrassing.”

A male voice cleared his throat and Jess fluttered to the side.  “Oh, yeah, g
uys, this is Arianna.  It’s her first day,” Jess announced to the group.  “This is Scott,” she said and gestured to a boy who appeared to be the heart of the group, the person around whom everyone else had positioned themselves. 

“Hey,”
Scott said and tipped his chin in greeting.  After seeing Desmond the day before, she thought every other guy would look about as attractive as a gnarled gnome in her eyes.  But Scott was not unattractive in the least.  Her knees weren’t knocking or anything like that, but he was good looking enough.  And if she were judging him based solely upon the conversations swirling when he’d walked in, then he was a god. 

“How’s it going,” Arianna said.

“Good, getting better by the minute.  If you need any help finding your classes, or with anything, just let me know.  I’d be more than happy to lend a hand,” he said and smiled a devilish smile.

Arianna felt certain Scott’s smile alone had gotten him plenty of female action in school.  He flashed it at her with confidence that bordered on cockiness
, and rightly so.  He did have an amazing smile.  What he did not know was that he was wasting his time.  She wasn’t interested in flirting with him; especially after enduring the ego-crushing rejection episode with Desmond. 

“Thanks for the offer
,” she said flatly.  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Scott’s
brown eyes danced with delight.  Arianna wondered why, wondered if perhaps he enjoyed a challenge and viewed her as one.  If that were the case, he’d be in for the challenge of a lifetime.  A prophesied super witch doomed to a life of loneliness and celibacy couldn’t be more challenging.

“This is George,”
Jess said and interrupted the intensity of Scott’s stare.  She pointed to a tall, lanky boy beside Scott.  Baby-faced despite his gaunt build, George smiled a humorless smile that ended at his lips.  His boyish features were betrayed by an air of gravity that surrounded him, existing like a separate entity she swore she could touch if she tried.  He was the poster child for the surly teenage boy.

Jess
continued with her introductions and rattled names as she pointed to a Paul, a Chris, a Josh, a Kit and a Meg.

“Nice to meet you,” Arianna said to the group.

“Maybe we can meet up at lunch,” Scott suggested.  His tone was neither flirtatious nor predatory and Arianna felt confident he had received the silent psychic message she’d sent.

“Yeah, why don’t you hang with us at lunch?” Meg
asked.

“What do you have first period?”
Jess asked and gripped the paper Arianna held for a closer look.

Her hand brushed Arianna’s
hand, and Arianna felt a fleeting flux of energy drift across her skin.  She wondered whether it was mind over matter, or whatever the cliché witch expression was for her powers willing into existence something that did not really exist.  Either way, she’d thought she’d felt something.  She looked up from her hand and was met with guileless blue eyes, innocent eyes,
not
the eyes of a witch.  The expression she wore and the clarity of her freshly scrubbed, freckled face did not belong to that of a supernatural being, but a grown-up Raggedy Ann doll.

“I see you have Mr. Dickinson first period,” she said
and pushed an errant lock of ginger hued hair from her forehead.  “I do, too.  I’ll take you there,” she suggested.

“We’ll see you later,”
Scott said and winked.  He turned from Arianna and Jess and began walking away with George practically pinned to his hip.

“Yeah, I hope we see you later!” 
Meg said cheerfully and scurried after Scott and George.

The
rest of the group followed suit, traveling like a bizarre multi-legged creature.  Scott clearly led the way, led all of them.  She’d seen the same thing in school after school she’d been to for as far back as she could remember.  Even as early as elementary school, cliques had formed and inevitably had a clearly defined leader.  They generally irritated her, but considering that this was her final high school experience, she was willing to let this one go and maybe even allow herself to be included in theirs. 

Arianna looked up and found
herself alone with Jess.

“This school is not so bad, once you get used to it,” Jess said as they walked down the hallway.  “The teachers are okay and most of the kids are nice.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Arianna said.  “So far everyone seems all right.” 

Arianna stared straight ahead as they walked. 
She looked down the long hallway and saw countless heads, but felt Jess’ eyes on her.  She did not know what she was expected to say.  Was she supposed to start rambling about her past, tell her life story maybe? She wondered.  She wasn’t a ready talker when it came to initiating a conversation.  She fared better when she was reacting to a person or situation, not taking the reins and yammering about herself.

“So,” she tried to breach the awkward silence.  “Mr. Dickinson, huh.  That’s a great name.  I bet the kids have a field day with
it.” 

She’d hoped Jess would start telling her all the rude variations of his name other kids had come up with over the years, but she did not.  Instead, she drew her brows together in confusion.

“You know, because his name has the word,” she started, but did not see the point in continuing.  “Oh forget it,” she said and waved her hand absently.  She did not want to ruin what was happening.  She did not want to offend Jess with her crude sense of humor, not yet, at least.  Even awkward silence was preferable to hostility.

“Here we are.  Mr. Dickinson’s room,
” Jess stopped in front of an open door.

“Room
eighty-eight, it is,” Arianna replied and smiled warmly.

Arianna thanked her and glanced
into the room.  Jess walked in ahead of her and sat before a desk near the front of the room. As Arianna passed her seat and headed to an empty desk in back, Jess tugged her arm and said, “Trust me, Mr.
Dick
inson does not live up to his name, but I’m happy to fill you in on some of the more colorful names he’s been called recently.”  Jess arched a brow.  A wicked gleam twinkled in her blue eyes and they no longer looked as open as they had before.  She smiled broadly.  “I’m not as innocent as I seem,” she smirked before releasing Arianna’s arm.

Arianna
smiled back, but paused for a moment, unsure of what to make of what Jess had said.  She had not thought Jess was prudish earlier.  She just had not wanted to open the floodgates of her crass sense of humor yet.  They’d just met.  There would be plenty of time for everyone to be offended by her in the near future.  She’d simply wanted to try pacing herself this time around.  As it turned out, she had nothing to worry about.  Jess was like her.  She contemplated saying as much, but decided against it and made her way to the empty desk in the last row.  She sat down just in time for Mr. Dickinson to sweep into the room with a Styrofoam coffee cup from a franchise coffee house in hand. 

“Does anyone else just hate getting up so darn early?” he asked.  “I didn’t even have time for my morning cigarette, so I may have to dismiss class early.  By the way, anyone who mentions my cigarette comment will fail my class.  Cigarettes are bad, blah, blah, blah, lecture, lecture, lecture,” he said and Arianna reverted back to her initial impression after she’d met Keller.  She must be in an alternate universe.  So far, her new school was too good to be true.

Chapter 6

Sifting from Maine to New York had sapped Desmond of any remaining energy he’d had.  Teleporting long distances often did that to him.  His exhaustion was compounded, however, by what had happened between him and Arianna.  He had not planned to kiss her, much less for things between them to become so heated.  But he loved her, and when he was with h
er, he felt drawn to her more than any place or person in his life.  A force more potent than the Earth’s gravitational pull kept him in her orbit, kept him close by.  He had to remind himself, though, that despite his intense attraction to her, he would always be kept at a distance.  The prophecy said as much. 

Prophecy or no prophecy, he knew she must be seething by now, that any hurt or em
barrassment she’d felt had long-since been transformed into pure anger.  He did not blame her.  He was angry, too.  Each time he recalled the prophecy after seeing her, it felt more and more like a sick cosmic joke.  Part of him wanted to say to hell with it, and succumb to the gravity of his feelings.  But he knew he could not, that the ramifications of him disregarding it could be catastrophic.  So he would suffer, with love so natural and instinctive it was like breathing, for a woman he could never be with.

An icy wind howled
like a wounded animal through the stately cedars along the lane that led to the Soldiers of the Divine Trinity Church and echoed an ache deep within him.  The giant barbed boughs of the trees swayed with the gust, but never surrendered their sentinel stare. Who or what they watched for, he did not know, but felt as though the entire forest around him was vigilant, waiting with bated breath.  Still, he moved forward and allowed the crisp air to invigorate him.  He needed the time to recharge, knew that entering the church would require him to sift through the buildings formidable exterior. 

When Desmond finally reached the end of the pathway, the church
towered imposingly.  He had been there just two weeks earlier, but in that time, he had forgotten what a striking structure it was.  Built entirely of stone, it would have looked like a grand fortress were it not for the beveled stained-glass windows that ornamented it like jewels sparkling in the sunlight, and the cross at the apex of the steeple.  But he hadn’t come to the church to appreciate the intricate architecture.  He’d come for answers.  Howard Kane had spent the greater part of his life hunting the Sola.  If a bastardization of her prophecy existed, one that depicted her as a vengeful, evil force sent to overtake the world, Kane would surely have it.