Betrayal (Vanish Book Two) (3 page)

“You can’t promise that.”

“Okay, I promise that no matter what happens,
I’ll be right here,” he pushed the hair away from my ear. “I
lo—”

“No,” I squirmed away and went back inside
the house.

“What’s wrong?”

“You’re just saying what you think I want to
hear,” I accused.

“No, I’m not. I’ll admit this is a difficult
situation, but I’ve loved you for years.” I didn’t know what to
say. If I say it back I might be lying to not only him, but
myself.

“Let’s just cool it for a while, okay?” I
touched his cheek.

“No problem,” he said, acting nonchalant,
though I could tell I hurt his feelings. “Do you want to go check
out the lake?”

“Alright, but we should make sure Annabelle’s
okay first.”

“I don’t think she is okay. She doesn’t know
if her parents are alive,” Dante said.

“Oh I didn’t tell you? I talked to them;
they’re dead, but I think being able to talk to them helped her a
lot. I just want to make sure. Cooper went in there, but I don’t
know if he left yet.”

I peeked in. Cooper was still there, and they
were sleeping, cuddled up together. I shut the door, being as quiet
as I could. I couldn’t help the smile on my face. I hadn’t known
Annabelle for very long, but we had quickly become friends, and I
liked seeing her happy. It was odd how even though she found out
her parents were dead, just knowing they were okay somewhere was
enough to have some peace of mind.

As we stepped out the front door, everything
glowed, instead of the faint white, everything was pink. I looked
at Dante; he looked back at me and smiled. The brightest light came
from the direction of the lake.

“I can’t believe all of this; this can’t be
real,” I sighed. “I’m still waiting to wake up in the hospital
after a heavy drugging.” He laughed, but I was serious.

“It’s all real; it can be horrible, or it can
be magical. That’s your choice and yours alone.”

“Will anything be normal after this?” I
wondered aloud.

“Do you want the truth?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“No, nothing will be normal. Things will get
tough, tougher than most people could imagine, but things like
this…” he said, looking around. “…aren’t all that rare in this
world we’ve been thrown into.”

“But I thought—”

“This was the only place like this?” he
asked, not waiting for an answer. “No, it’s the most powerful for
keeping evil away, but our magic can do far more than we know.” He
grabbed both of my hands and closed his eyes. “Do you feel that?”
he asked.

“Yes,” I whispered, out of breath. It was
like electricity, flowing through him to me.

“We learn everything in the real world, and
we think that’s how it’s supposed to be. It is for normal people.
We’ve mastered the concepts of that world, at least as much as we
could at this age. When we find someone like us, someone we feel
something for, it’s almost an instant connection. It doesn’t feel
right, not in the real world. We try to fight it, but soon we
realize where we are now, is more real than anything we’d known
before. Everything becomes normal, though you’ll never get over the
amazing things that can happen,” Dante explained.

“And what about all the death, all the
violence, everyone that’s come after us that wants us dead?” I
blurted.

“For most people, even people like us, that
would be a problem. We came through it, stronger than ever.
Everything inside me tells me to talk you out of what you’re
thinking, but I know you can handle it; I know we can handle it,”
he admitted.

“People have died, right in front of us, and
to be honest I’m afraid of just how normal that’s starting to feel.
You have a problem, you kill it. My mom is a problem, but I don’t
know if I can…” I felt the tears returning.

“You do what you need to do,” he said,
looking into my eyes. “But you did kind of scare me when you
stabbed that guy to death.”

“I know; that’s what I’m saying,” I let my
head fall. He pulled me close to him.

“He was a bad man, Scarlett. You don’t have
the urge to kill any of us do you?”

“No, not at all, it was just so easy,” I
mumbled against his chest. “Doesn’t that make me evil? Aren’t there
more civil ways to solve your problems?”

“Unfortunately, no. In the real world,
maybe…” he stressed the word maybe, “…but not here.”

“I just feel like I’m crazy,” I sighed.

“You’re fine. Sometimes that’s what it takes
to survive, and things aren’t always simple. The police can’t be
involved. They want to kill you; you kill them, problem solved, as
messed up as it may seem,” he muttered.

“Okay, enough about this.”

I put my arm around him and continued
walking. He pushed aside a big branch, and there was the lake.

I stood motionless in front of the water. I
searched my brain, trying to remember a place as perfect as this,
but I couldn’t. Sure the forest itself was magnificent, but this…
this was incredible. The sun was just about to set; we got here
just in time. The trees gathered around the water, casting their
reflection onto the surface. The sun lit the lake up and gave it an
almost orange appearance. Dante Grabbed my hand and led me over to
a dock that went about ten feet into the water. The sun had hidden
behind the trees, and the icy fall air filled my lungs. I sat
cross-legged on the dock, not wanting to dip my feet into the
even-colder water. Then I noticed steam emerging up from the
surface. I took my shoes off and submerged my feet into the water.
It was…
warm.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked in a
soft voice as he dipped his feet in as well.

“Everything,” I said, staring at the
lake.

“Anything in particular?”

“How am I going to make this work? If we’re
going to be stuck here forever—” I began.

“What do you mean, stuck here? Most people
like us would kill to live here. Grace will come around, and you‘ll
have your two best friends here with you.”

“Yeah, but she needs to talk about what she
went through that’s the only way she’ll feel better,” I
objected.

“And when she’s ready, I’m sure she’ll come
to you,” he assured.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“We found her, Scarlett. Please just try to
be happy,” he begged.

“You’re right,” I said, turning towards him
and putting my arms around his neck.

He smiled and brought his lips almost to
mine. His face was flawless as the pink light given off by the lake
danced across his face.

“Of course I am.”

He moved a lock of hair out of my face before
kissing me. He ran his fingers down the back of my neck. For a
moment, I could
feel
what he was talking about before. I was
pushing him away because it felt wrong to go so fast from being
friends to
this.
I wasn’t quite sure what this was, but I
knew it was something that I couldn’t push away. I shook my head
and got up. He looked confused.

“You want to go for a swim?” I asked as he
got up.

“I don’t know. I wasn’t really planning on….”
Before he could finish his sentence, I pushed him into the
lake.

When he surfaced, he had a huge smile on his
face. I returned the smile, and then did a huge cannonball right
next to him. When I came up, I had no time to gasp for air, I
couldn’t stop laughing. He swam up to me and went to dunk me under,
but I dunked him first; he didn’t put up much of a fight.

“I’m going to get you,” he laughed when he
came up.

“You have to catch me,” I yelled as I swam
away.

He caught me, and I dunked him again. While
he was under, he grabbed my foot, and pulled me under with him. I
opened my eyes, and it was like nothing I’d ever seen before. I
used to swim in the lake by my house and look up at the sky from
under. That was beautiful, but this was amazing. You couldn’t tell
it was night under the water; it was lit up so bright, the pink
bubbles sparkled. I came up for air, and Dante grabbed me by the
waist.

We both went under together, even though it
was awkward, we kissed under the water, both of us came up
laughing. We swam around for a while and decided to get out. I
imagined two towels lying on the beach; this power could really
come in handy. The air felt much colder than it did before we went
in the lake, I could feel my teeth chattering. He took his towel
and held it on his left side, then he wrapped it around his back
and then around me.

I could get used to living here. It was
amazing, but I felt like I needed some time away. When I came back,
I would appreciate this how it should be appreciated.

My eye lids got heavy; everything went
blurry, and soon I was sucked into another vision of the night
Grace disappeared.

I was back in the woods, next to the bush I’d
hidden behind. My mother followed the men as they took Grace
away.

“Why is she worth so much to you?” She asked,
curious.

“Bait,” one man replied in a deep, unpleasant
voice.

“Bait, for what?” She demanded. “Come on spit
it out.”

“I think that’s her
mom
,” the one man
said to the other.

“Scarlett?” She said with fury. “Well that’s
going to raise the price quite a bit.” I peeked around the bush.
She had grabbed onto Grace refusing to let her leave until they
agreed.

“How much are you thinking?” One man asked
with skepticism.

“At the very least 500,000.”

“We’ll see what we can do,” the man
agreed.

“Wait,” the other man protested. “What if she
doesn’t come looking for her friend?”

“Then if the price is right, I will deliver
her to you myself,” she snapped.

“When will she be eighteen?” the man asked in
a low voice. He was intimidated.

“I’ve been waiting for years, now it almost
feels like it was a waste. But hey, at least I’ll have money.”

“Ahem,” one of the men cleared their throat,
snapping her out of it.

“Oh, in October,” she answered.

“Well then, if you can, make it closer to
October, I don’t like to keep them around for long.”

They started walking away and she came back
to me, as she did in my last vision. I anticipated the shovel, and
this time, it didn’t end once I saw her face.

“You always were a little brat.”

She grabbed me by my clothes and picked me
up, dragging me along through the forest.

“Why are you doing this?” I cried.

“Shut up,” she ordered.

“I want to know who my dad is; I want to go
live with him.”

“No way in hell am I giving you back
now.”

“Giving me back?” I trembled. “What do you
mean?” She lifted her hand up and smacked me across the face, and
then it was over.

When I woke up in the morning, I rolled over
to look at Dante, but he was gone. I wasn’t anywhere near as upset
about the dream as I would have been if I hadn’t known my mother
was a monster. I went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror.
My hair was a mess. I opened all the drawers and found a brush. I
ripped it through my knotty hair; by the time I was done my head
was throbbing. I brushed my teeth and went to go find some dry
clothes; I fell asleep in the ones I wore into the lake. I wondered
about my dream. It must have been from the past, yet I never really
dreamt of the past. When I saw the past, I was awake, not aware,
but awake, nonetheless. I also wondered why I was worth 500,000
dollars. I had so many unanswered questions, but last night was the
first time in a long time that I actually had a good time. I
couldn’t let this vision from the past ruin that.

I went back into the room, and grabbed some
jeans and a T-shirt. Then I opened the closet door. I needed shoes,
too; I left mine at the beach. All that hung in there were men’s
clothes and a few dresses. I took a deep breath and looked down at
the shoes. All high heels and they all had to be at least five
inches high. I would have to make a trip back to the beach later
and retrieve the ones I left. Then I grabbed a black and gray
striped sweater; I figured it would look better with the heels than
a T-shirt would.

I walked around the house looking for
someone, anyone. Everyone was gone but Grace, who was still
sleeping. I left her a note next to her bed.

I headed out the door and stumbled over to
George and Elizabeth’s, almost twisting my ankle with every step.
When I reached their house, I walked over the stone path to the
door, being careful not to trip. I learned fast that even one
missed step could result in catastrophe. I knocked on the door. I
heard Elizabeth chattering as she came to answer.

“Oh hey, we were wondering when you were
going to get here. You look very nice,” she complimented. I
blushed.

As I walked in the door, Lily looked me up
and down and rolled her eyes.

“You look beautiful,” Dante said as he picked
me up and swung me around. When he set me down he gave me a quick
kiss. He held my hand and led me over to the table.

“So I was thinking…” Elizabeth Started, “…how
would you girls like to go shopping today?”

“Oh, I don’t have any money—” I started to
explain.

“Oh don’t you worry about that,” she said.
“So how about it?”

“What about Grace? Would it be safe to take
her out?” I asked. She pulled out another velvet bag full of
dirt.

“We won’t even need this, but just in case,”
she smiled.

“Alright, it sounds fun,” I lied,
smiling.

I was never excited to go shopping. Sure, I
liked new clothes just as much as the next girl, but shopping had
never been a fun experience for me. I was very excited to get out
of here for the day though.

“Great! Go get Grace up, and we’ll head out
soon,” she said, she sounded so happy.