Betrayal (Vanish Book Two) (12 page)

“So, who was it? In the woods, I mean,” I
wondered.

“It was dark when they came in; by the time
it was over, they were so bloody, I couldn’t tell. Does it really
matter though? I mean, they’re dead. They won’t be bothering us any
time soon.”

“Yeah, I guess it doesn’t really matter.”

I didn’t know how much longer I could take
this. I couldn’t see anyone else get hurt or die, even if they
deserved it. Nothing was right about this, and I didn’t want to
live like this anymore. I cleared my mind, there was nothing I
could do except let them haunt me forever—literally.

“I can tell Elizabeth thinks something’s up,
but you trust me right?” He blurted.

“Of course,” I smiled. “I’m going to go blow
dry my hair. I’ll be back in a few.”

It took me almost a half an hour to blow dry
my hair, and it wasn’t even dry, but I heard a knock on the door,
so I ran downstairs.

“Hey,” I said as I opened the door.

“Hey what’s up?” Rose asked.

“Nothing really. So, what happened when you
got home last night?”

“Mom yelled at Sienna for a while, but she
told her that you said to go easy on her.”

“I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve
caused.”

“It’s not your fault. Mom was a little sad
about having to wait to get to know you though,” she responded.

“I’m not happy about it either, but Sienna
and…” I stopped. I didn’t know her name.

“Hazel.” Huh another color, surprise,
surprise.

“Sienna and Hazel have every right to be a
little upset about this, but Sienna went about it the wrong way.
Maybe the next time we hang out you should ask them to come along,”
I suggested.

“Yeah, maybe. Are you guys ready to go?”

“Yeah,” I answered.

“Yep,” Dante said as he got up from the
couch.

We walked through the woods, with another
person on our side; it was almost as if Rose had taken Annabelle’s
place. I missed Annabelle though, and I felt awful for thinking
that, I hoped I would see her again someday. We went right towards
Rose’s house. Even in the fall, once all the trees had lost their
leaves, it was beautiful. It was the perfect day to go for a walk;
the sun was shining bright and the birds around us were chirping. I
couldn’t wait to see this place in the summer, but I wondered what
would happen between then and now.

We were all quiet as we walked. The glow from
the trees was hardly noticeable with the sun shining so bright, and
somehow we drifted off George and Elizabeth’s property. It wasn’t a
big deal—definitely not to Rose—but it was rare that we left our
safe place, and I didn’t feel too comfortable with everything we
had to worry about.

“Should we head back?” I asked.

“Nah,” Dante said as he looked around.

We kept walking. A few minutes later, out of
the corner of my eye, I noticed something moving.

“Hey, did you guys see that?” I
whispered.

“See what?” Rose asked. Before I could
answer, Dante interrupted.

“No.”

“There was something over there.”

Rose looked with me as Dante stood back, it
seemed like he didn’t even care. Was he so sure that the person he
killed was the only one wandering around these woods? I saw
movement coming from all over, coming closer. Before long, I could
see a large group of people, far back and hardly visible between
the bare trees. They were looking for something, was it the
Alliance, had they finally come to get us,
me
?

“Look,” I heard one of them say, they came
closer.

“Run,” I shrieked.

We ran as fast as we could through the trees,
dodging rocks and stumps. We came to the end of our path—and maybe
our lives—when we reached a cliff. We went to run left, back
towards George and Elizabeth’s, but it was too late. They came
closer, keeping their eyes on us at all times. They knew they had
us, and they took their time and indulged in our fear. When I
imagined the Alliance, I imagined some sort of uniform, maybe a
cloak or a cape, I didn’t know, but all of these people were so
normal
-
looking
.

“I lo—” I was about to say to Dante, when he
appeared behind himself. “What?” I could barely speak as the tears
welled up in my eyes.

“That’s not me.” The smile on his face was
heartbreaking.

“No,” I sobbed; the tears streamed down my
cheeks.

“Be strong Scarlett,” Rose urged.

“That’s not it,” I choked.

The ghost of Dante came closer, and wrapped
his arms around me. Without intention, I turned invisible as he
brought his lips to mine. It was unbearable, the worst tragedy I’ve
had to face. I couldn’t live, and I wouldn’t. He stopped and looked
at my face, and I became visible.

I had two options, both ending with my death.
The first would be horrifying. I would allow the Alliance to do
what they would, to tear me to shreds or slit my throat, the
possibilities were endless. Or I could keep some of my dignity and
jump, not only because I was cornered and knew I would die anyway,
but because I wanted to be with the only person who ever loved me.
I turned to face the cliff. I hoped it would be quick, painless,
but all of the jagged rocks and bare trees looked like they would
be painful, even if I did die almost instantly.

“Who did this to you?” I asked Dante. I
needed to know before I jumped.

“I don’t know, not for sure, but what
happened to Grace is connected to this; I just don’t know how yet.”
Rose grabbed my hand.

“What are you doing?” I asked, before I
pulled my hand away.

“I’m taking us back in time,” she
replied.

Before I said no, I thought for a moment,
Dante would still be alive in the past, right? Maybe we could turn
this all around.

“Okay.” I grabbed her hand, but my foot
slipped.

The next thing I knew, I was hanging off the
cliff with only Rose to help me. The other Dante walked behind her.
“Watch out,” I yelled, as he tried to push her off as well.

She let go of my hand, and I grabbed on to
the edge. My fingernails dug into the dirt. I couldn’t hold on much
longer. Dante’s ghost watched in horror, as whoever possessed his
body came over to push Rose off the cliff. I could tell by the look
in his eyes how helpless he felt. Rose saw him coming and kicked
him in the chest, when he was on his back, she grabbed my hand.

I imagined a time before Grace had
disappeared, before my dreams of me and Dante came true. A time
before I knew what a monster my so-called “mother” was. I snapped
out of it and noticed Dante getting back up. Before I could warn
her, he knocked Rose off the cliff, and I went with her.

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I knew I was sleeping, but I wasn’t sure
where I was. Was I in the present, knocked out from the fall, or
dead? Or was I in the past, about to wake up and pretend this was
all a horrible dream?

I laid there with my eyes closed, afraid of
where I would be when I opened them. Would I wake up in the
hospital, having to relive every awful moment? I opened my eyes. I
was in my old room with all my old things. I sighed with relief,
until I remembered—I would have to pretend that I didn’t know
anything about Ann. When I got up to look around, I noticed there
was another bed. This couldn’t be good. We must have changed
something, hopefully this was the only thing, but who was in the
bed? I went over to look. It was Rose. I shook her until she woke
up.

“It worked, but I don’t understand why you’re
here,” I said so fast, I don’t think she caught what I said. Her
eyes were half open, and she looked exhausted.

“I knew it was only a matter of time before
you went crazy,” she joked and pulled the covers over her head.
“Now let me sleep. Today’s going to be a long day.”

“No, Rose, how far back did you take us?”

“What are you talking about?” She
mumbled.

She didn’t remember. I ran out the bedroom
door and down the stairs.

“Good morning, sweetie,” Ann said in the
sweetest voice I’d ever heard her speak in. She was making
breakfast, something she would never have bothered to do before.
“Rose still isn’t up?”

“Uh, no,” I answered.

“Could you go wake her up, honey? We need to
be ready to go soon.”

“Alright,” I mumbled.

I was angry at her. I hated her, but it
seemed she wasn’t the same person who attacked Grace and me in the
woods that night. I was horrified to see what else had changed; the
ramifications of our actions had to extend out of this house.

I needed to find Dante, to explain
everything. I needed him to hold me in his arms again and believe
what I was about to tell him. I hoped I wouldn’t be rejected. I ran
up the stairs to wake Rose. I needed to be quick, so I could find
Dante and Grace before whatever we had to do today. I knew I would
have to go along with everything until I could figure out what we
needed to do.

“Wake up,” I yelled as I threw a pillow at
her.

“Didn’t we just have this discussion?”

“…Mom said to wake you up, she’s making
breakfast.”

“Ugh, fine.” She sat up. “I had the weirdest
dream. Me, you and Dante Quinn were all standing on the edge of a
cliff—”

“It wasn’t a dream, Rose. Come on, I know you
remember. You have to,” I pleaded.

“Ha, nice one. Kind of like when I made you
believe that dream you had was real, what was it about again?”

“You really don’t remember anything?”

“You’re nuts,” she said as she rolled out of
bed.

Great, now I was back to feeling crazy over
something I was sure of. I was sure I didn’t kill Grace; I was
crazy. Now I’m sure we went back in time, but no one, not even the
person I came here with believes me. I went down and sat at the
table with Ann and Rose.

Once I was finished eating breakfast, I
marched up the stairs to get ready. I still didn’t know what I was
getting ready for. I put on some jeans and a nice green blouse. I
figured that should work for most occasions. Ann knew I wasn’t much
for dressing up, so if this occasion called for that, she should
have said so.

“What are you doing?” Rose asked as she
walked up to me in a black dress.

“What?”

“Umm I know this is hard for you. You knew
him better than I did, all the more reason to have some
respect.”

“Where are we going?” I wondered.

“Are you kidding? We’re going to a funeral,”
Rose said in disbelief.

I couldn’t bear to ask my next question. So
much had changed, I knew I was going to come off crazy sooner or
later because it was obvious I should have known this. Whose
funeral were we going to? Did we mess up the past so bad by coming
back to it, that— no. I couldn’t even think it. I grabbed a black
dress out of the closet and stumbled into the bathroom. When I came
out, I couldn’t even speak, not until we got to the funeral, not
until I knew for sure.

“Come on girls,” Ann called from
downstairs.

When we reached the funeral home, I saw
Dante’s mother and brothers on the stairs in the front of the
building. They were hugging and crying.

The funeral home was right on the edge of a
familiar patch of woods. I couldn’t do this. I wanted to be there.
I knew I would regret it, but once I had my opening, I took it and
ran straight for the woods.

Me and Dante’s favorite spot was behind the
bar a little ways down the street. I knew it wouldn’t take too long
to get there. I would rather remember him sitting in that spot,
than him lying in a casket. I ran through the woods, not bothering
to watch were I was going. I tripped over roots and big branches,
but soon I was close to my destination.

The woods were just as beautiful as I
remembered, it must have been spring or summer. The trees were
covered in perfect green leaves. The warm air was comforting, but
nothing could make me feel better.

I walked the rest of the way, taking
everything in. The most depressing thought I had, besides the
actual realization that he was dead, was that he died before I ever
got to tell him how I felt. Before he could tell me he felt the
same, in this alternate reality though, that may not have been the
case.

I anticipated the beautiful river, flowing
over the smooth rocks, and sitting on the rock we shared to watch
it countless times before.

When I reached it, I stood there in shock.
Sitting there on the rock—our rock—was Dante, but was he alive or
was it only his ghost?

Everything was so different now. We changed
the past by coming back to it, but did that mean the future had
changed as well? I walked closer to the rock where Dante sat,
unaware of me coming up behind him. I needed a closer look, though
differentiating a ghost from a person wasn’t easy. The best way I’d
come up with thus far was wounds, or appearing out of thin air.

I couldn’t bear it anymore; I needed to touch
him, hug him, be near him for only a second. I ran up and wrapped
my arms around him.

“What the hell are you
doing? Get off me.” He pushed me off him and down to the
ground.
I’d taken him by surprise, he was
frightened that’s all
, I told
myself.

“Dante, you need to listen to me. I know none
of this is going to make sense, but please hear me out. I came back
from the future; we were hiding out from the Alliance. Long story
short, they cornered us, well, not really us because you were a
ghost. My sister and I came back in time, and now everything is
different—”