Awry (39 page)

Scarlet was killing Tristan. She was literally killing Tristan. She was stealing life from him. For the first time, she understood how he felt.

Gabriel’s voice sounded far away as he spoke to Mr. Brooks. “What can we do to buy time? What do we need to do to keep Tristan alive for as long as possible?”

Mr. Brooks cocked his head in thought. “They should not touch. Not at all. Even a brief contact of skin could complete the transition and send Tristan toward his death.”

Scarlet’s heart kicked away at her ribcage. She was in shock.

Dying over and over again was something she didn’t like, but at least it gave her something to hope for. But dying permanently…Tristan dying forever…that was void of hope.

Dark. Lifeless.

That was something Scarlet could not survive.

Leaving Mr. Brooks’ house was a blur. Someone shuffled Scarlet up the cellar stairs, down the owl-lined hallway and out into the cold February wind, but she wasn’t there.

She was somewhere else in her mind. She was floating along someplace where Tristan was safe and she was healthy and curses were nonexistent.

“Scar,” came a whisper beside her. Had it been any voice other than Tristan’s, Scarlet would have ignored it completely.

But the green-eyed Archer’s voice sank into her pores and she gave in automatically. Looking around, she saw that she was seated in the front passenger seat of Heather’s small car.

Tristan’s hot breath brushed her ear as he leaned in through the window and brought his face close to hers. “Scar, we haven’t lost yet. Look at me.”

Scarlet turned her face to his, barely seeing him.

Tristan said, “There’s no victory without a battle, remember?”

“Seriously, dude?” came Nate’s voice. “Ten foot rule. Come on!”

Tristan yanked his head away from Scarlet and a moment later Heather—seated in the driver’s seat—started the engine and left Peach Drive.

The hum of Heather’s car vibrated against Scarlet’s back as Scarlet let her thoughts roam to Tristan’s words.

They sounded familiar and safe.But they also sounded far away.

Heather drove in silence.

Scarlet felt tears sting her eyes and she wanted to scream. She wanted to wail for her broken mind and cry in frustration at all the things she couldn’t fix. The things she couldn’t change.

The things she couldn’t remember.

I don’t want a battle with a victory. I want a nice, easy road to the fountain of youth, paved with flowers and lined with unicorns that sang songs about how great life was going to be.

There’s no victory without a battle? Then I don’t want a victory! I’m sick of battling! I’m sick of death—

Click.

A discombobulated memory stuttered through her mind. Random images, evasive emotions….

Pressure, determination, bravery….

Scarlet had what she needed. If she could make it through the night and hold off the nosebleeds for one more sunset, she could be free.

She had what she needed.

Scarlet opened the door of the small bedroom she was in and stepped into….

The shack.

The same shack Tristan had been staying in.

She was there, with a purpose, like it was her home. She walked to the kitchen and looked out at the twilight forest through the window.

“There is no victory with a battle,” she whispered to herself.

Breathing heavily, Scarlet jolted out of the memory just as Heather pulled down Main Street.

Scarlet gasped. “The shack! I need to go to the shack!”

Heather wrinkled her brow. “The what?”

“There’s a shack in the woods by the cabin. That’s where it is.”

“Where what is?”

“I don’t know! Just drive to the cabin.” Scarlet was panting, and slapping her hands on the dashboard in front of her. “Go!”

“Okay, okay!” Heather stomped on the gas with a pink high heel, and peeled down Main Street, driving like fury through the town. For the first time ever, Scarlet was thankful for her best friend’s insane driving.

When Heather steered her car down the cabin’s driveway, Scarlet didn’t wait for the vehicle to come to full and complete stop. While it was still rolling, she jumped out, breaking into a run.

70

Scarlet ran through the woods, trees flying past her as she made her way closer and closer to the shack in the forest. She’d only been there once but she knew exactly how to get there.

Scarlet heard Gabriel, Nate and Tristan running after her, but she didn’t look back.

“Scarlet! I am not dressed for sprinting through the wild!” Heather voice was far behind her, but chasing after her nonetheless. “Slow down.”

Scarlet couldn’t slow down even if she wanted to. There was something in the shack. Something that belonged to her in the past.

Coming upon the hut, Scarlet found the front door unlocked and let herself inside. She looked around for a moment, hoping a flashback would hit her.

“Scarlet?” Tristan entered the shack after Scarlet. “What are you doing—”

“It’s here.” Scarlet barely looked at Tristan as she started running around the shack, looking behind hanging pictures and up the fireplace for clues, hints, anything.

“What’s here?” Tristan eyed her closely.

“I don’t know.”

Gabriel and Nate were next to enter the hut.

“What is this place?” Nate looked around.

Scarlet opened up every cabinet in the small kitchen, knocking things aside. She was desperate for any clue as to what, exactly, she was looking for.

Amnesia sucked.

Panting and flushed, Heather was the last member of Team Awesome to barge through the front door, mud coating the bottom half of her heels. “I twisted my ankle, swallowed a fly, and ran through a spider web trying to follow you here, Scarlet. This better be good!”

“It’s good,” Scarlet said automatically. “Or maybe bad. I’m not sure.” She started opening all the windows and knocking on the walls.

“Scar,” Tristan said. “What are you looking for?”

“I don’t know!” Scarlet snapped. “I know how stupid that sounds but…but it’s the truth. There’s something here. I hid something here.” Scarlet frantically walked from one end of the cabin to the other, running out of hiding spots.

Creak.

The floorboard beneath her foot moaned. Scarlet paused. She stepped on it again. Creak.

She knew that sound. It was familiar and personal.

Dropping to her knees, Scarlet started running her hands along the dirty floor.

“What the…?” Heather looked disgusted. “Scarlet, if I ate a bug just so you could wipe the nasty floor with your hands, I’m going to be so mad.”

“Shh!” Scarlet held up a hand as she put her other hand on the floorboard and listened. “Hear that?”

“Uh…no.” Heather said.

Tristan came up behind Scarlet and looked down at the floor. “What are you listening—?”

Snap.

Released from a hidden hinge, the floorboard popped up, revealing an old, metal handle.

Scarlet gasped. “I knew it!” She started tearing at the surrounding floorboards, pulling them up and throwing them aside until a large, square door appeared beneath the floor.

“O-M-G.” Heather inhaled.

“What the hell?” Gabriel squatted down beside Scarlet.

Scarlet pulled up on the handle, but found it stuck. Using all of her weight and strength, she heaved again. The door lifted with a cloud of dust, causing Scarlet to lean back on her heels.

Once the dust cleared, everyone stared down at a dark flight of stairs.

“Holy crap!” Heather jumped back. “Is this some kind of mystery cabin? How did you know these stairs were here?”

Scarlet’s eyes surveyed the steps. “I think…I think I used to live here.” She motioned around the small shack.

Nate shook his head, clearly confused. “What?”

“I don’t know.” Scarlet looked down at the darkness and then ran to the kitchen. When she’d thrown all the cabinets open, she’d seen a few flashlights. Grabbing one, she hurried back to the descending staircase. “But I’m going to find out.”

She started to step down into the darkness.

Tristan grabbed a few more flashlights, passed them out, and they all headed down into the darkness, with Scarlet as their leader.

The stairs were old and weak, moaning beneath the weight of the people climbing down them. After a few steps, Scarlet realized they were in a cellar of sorts. She reached the cellar floor and carefully stepped forward into the small room.

Scarlet lifted her flashlight to light up the area before her. What she found herself looking at was a wall covered with hanging weapons.

Bloody weapons.

Heather sucked in a breath at the site.

Nate said, “Wha…?”

Tristan and Gabriel remained silent.

Scarlet’s eyes widened in disbelief. She knew they were hers. She couldn’t remember her last life, but somehow she knew the deadly, bloody weapons hanging before herwere hers.

Scarlet took a step back, overwhelmed with fear. “Who…the hell…am I?”

***************

Tristan was speechless. He blinked. And then blinked again.

Scarlet started to hyperventilate. “Ohmygoodness, ohmygoodness, ohmygoodness—”

“Okay, let’s not panic here.” Heather held up a hand. “It’s really no big deal.” She shrugged, trying to look brave. “So you’ve got a secret arsenal of slightly-used weapons. Hidden in a creepy…and probably spider-infested cellar…in the middle of nowhere. That’s no reason to panic.”

A bat flapped in front of them and Heather yelped.

Scarlet’s eyes began to glow.

Tristan’s eyes began to burn as well, searing into his head with a blaze he couldn’t begin to describe.But the pain immediately stopped.

He saw Scarlet blink as the neon glow disappeared from her eyes. She stared at Tristan. “I had a memory.”

“What do you remember?” Nate asked.

“It was a good memory,” Scarlet answered. “I remember a graveyard.”

Heather tucked her lips in. “That’s not what I would call a ‘good’ memory—”

“No, I mean. It was an important memory.” Scarlet walked over to the weapons and grabbed a blood-coated butcher knife off the wall, looking at the blade curiously.

“What was important about it?” Tristan watched her eye the knife.

“I can’t remember.”

“Of course you can’t.” Heather sighed.

“But the graveyard is in Avalon.” Scarlet started making her way back up the cellar stairs, still clutching the knife. “Let’s go find it.”

Tristan looked at Gabriel.

Gabriel looked at Tristan.

And Scarlet kept walking up the stairs with a bloodstained knife in her hand.

“Uh…Scar?” Tristan tried to sound calm. “You know you still have a knife in your hand?”

Scarlet looked down at the weapon. “Yes. I want to take it with me.”

“Why?” Heather swallowed.

“Um.” Scarlet looked confused. “I don’t know. But I know I want it with me.” Scarlet turned and started back up the stairs.

Gabriel and Nate exchanged a nervous glance before following after her.

Heather pointed at Tristan. “Okay, if my B-F-F goes rogue and starts trying to chop me into pieces, I fully expect your immortal hotness to protect me, got it?”

Tristan raised his eyebrows in response.

Taking a deep breath, Heather followed everyone up the stairs and out of the cellar.

Waiting until they were gone from sight, Tristan grabbed two bloody daggers and a hunting knife off of Scarlet’s wall.

If she was going rogue, so was he.

71

It was Scarlet’s wedding day.

Her servants—because she was now the countess and had servants—helped squeeze her into the dress Gabriel had bought her for the occasion. The skirt was made of layers upon layers of sheer white, sticking out at various angles to make the skirt full and heavy. The top piece was pure lace, with beautiful straps that fell over her shoulders and crossed in the back, and the final adornment was a black corset top.

Scarlet hadn’t worn a corset since she was a young girl, so standing still while she was tied into the corset was difficult. And painful.

Which reminded her why she hadn’t worn a corset in so long.

When she was dressed and ready to be presented, Scarlet looked at herself in her bedroom mirror.

She did not see the girl from the woods. She did not see Ana’s young daughter or a dedicated hunter.

She saw a new woman. A countess.

Which made her proud. And sad.

She shoved the sadness aside and allowed her servants to lead her out to the main hall for the ceremony.

She did not have a whole soul, but she had love.

She thought of Gabriel and smiled. Gabriel was her strength. And today he would be her husband.

***************

By the time Tristan reached his home village, he was exhausted. He had made the long journey from the monastery by foot and seldom stopped for rest or food.

He was weak, he was dirty, and he was tired.

But the village bustled with news of a wedding that was taking place in the late morning and energy shot through him.

Scarlet and Gabriel were to be married in less than an hour.

He hurried to the castle. Not to stop the wedding. Not to beg Gabriel to give Scarlet back to him.But to see her.

Just to see her.

After the wedding, he would have to go into hiding; he surely could not stay in a town where he was thought to be dead and live peacefully. His father would have his head and the guards would never allow him back into the castle.

But weddings were public occasions and Tristan knew he could sneak inside the main hall and see Scarlet’s sweet face one last time.

Church bells rang in the distance, signaling the end of the morning and Tristan began to run.

72

The sun was setting on the small, quiet downtown of Avalon, Georgia and everything looked perfectly normal.

Everything except for the five teenagers walking into the Avalon cemetery, Scarlet still armed with a bloody butcher knife.

Scarlet knew it looked weird, but she didn’t care. Something was there….something was in the cemetery.