Bloodlines: Everything That Glitters (13 page)

So much potential, so little confidence
, I thought to myself disappointingly.

People could say the same about you
, the voice replied.
You’re never going to be human, Alizarin
.

You don’t know that
, I answered.

“Hey did you get my message? I was telling you about the place that was hiring,” she practically whispered into my ear. I would have to tell her about her tone one of these days; even Corey spoke louder than her.

I got up from the desk and flung the backpack across my shoulder. “Yeah I got it, I was gonna go before class this morning but I couldn’t afford to be late again. I’ll go check it out tomorrow, it’s the weekend so, no worries.”

“Yeah ok, so what are you about to do right now?”

“Meeting a friend for food and fun,” I lied.

I saw the disappointment drift across her face; she was probably thinking that we would be hanging out again this weekend. My weekend was actually pretty full however, not that I didn’t
want
to hang out with her, but I’d rather spend time with someone else and I didn’t have a positive way of telling her that without totally hurting her feelings.

“Oh, I thought that we might hang out. There’s this place I’ve been wanting to go to for a while, just never had anyone to go with.”

Ash was standing outside the door, he was anxious as well as I, he cleared his thought behind me and I turned to look at him. “Hold on,” I mouthed.

“I’ll text you if they bail out on me, then we can totally go to that place,” I said, giving a reassuring smile.

When she smiled back I knew that had just made her day again, she nodded and pointed at Ash, “Okay, well your brother is waiting.”

I walked out of the classroom and into the hallway, walking briskly through the crowd. Today was the day; someone would finally tell me what I was, I was just hoping it was something I wanted to hear. Ash walked quietly behind me, keeping up with me as we weaved in and out of the crowd. “Where is Corey?” I said, pausing for second to examine the area. People bumped into me carelessly as I looked around for our missing passenger.

“Is that her?” Ash pointed to an empty area in the hall.

I turned to face the direction he was pointing into and sure enough it was; she was standing in the middle of a small circle of extremely good-looking guys, I found myself slightly jealous as I looked at the plastered smile she had spread across her face. I walked over to her group, nearly forcing my way through two tough guys. “Sorry to interrupt your party here, but
it’s time to go.”

“Yeah I’ll be right there, geesh,” she replied annoyed.

I rolled my eyes and stepped out of her circle. “Five minutes or you’re walking home.” I called behind my back as Ash and I continued to the car.

When I got outside Corey was jogging to catch up. “You don’t have to be a crab about it, did you get a little jealous back there?”

I turned around and looked at her, was she serious? “Okay, who are you and what happened to the shy person crying about her missing sister that walked into that school?” I said, stepping closer to her. Anger slowly rose inside, I heard the quickened beat of my heart as I dared letting the fire erupt from me.
Say one more thing
, I mentally dared.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what made me say that,” she whispered, covering her mouth with both hands. “It wasn’t me Aliza, I swear.”

“Please, do not say another word to me,” I fumed. “I’m dropping you off at home, I have to go somewhere.” I got into the driver’s seat and started the car, briefly looking into the rearview at Corey; I was still a little upset about what happened.

“I’m sorry, Aliza,” she said again, with her head low. “I know no one could ever be jealous of me,” she continued.

I rolled my eyes and maneuvered out of the parking lot, I waved at Bethany through the glass as I passed her getting into her car. Ash nudged my shoulder; he wanted me to disagree. “That’s not entirely true Corey, you’re a beautiful girl. I’m sure you made a lot of other people jealous today.” I replied, looking back up into the rearview again and spreading a warm smile.

I sped down the winding roads, there were only a few cars going this way; everyone else lived in the opposite direction, closer to the town center. We rode in silence, which only made the fifteen minute drive seem longer; I was anxious to get to the park, I clenched the steering wheel firmly, turning my knuckles white.

Finally we arrived at home. Without bothering to park in the driveway, I pulled up to the curb of the street and unlocked the door for Corey to get out.

“What time will you guys be back?” Corey said, one foot out of the door.

“We won’t be long,” Ash replied.

“Why can’t I come?”

I searched my brain for a good reason that she wasn’t invited and a way of telling her that wouldn’t hurt her feelings. “Didn’t know you would want to run errands with us all day? I’m sure you had a pretty stressful day at school, lots of weekend homework.”

She looked at the ground then stepped out of the car. “Yeah you’re right, I should probably start on it now.”

“See, we’re totally looking out for you.” I said. Once she’d closed the door I sped off down the street, not caring if she got into the house safely or not. She closed the door and walked around to the front and waved.

“So why don’t you want her to go with us?”

I looked at him and put the car into gear, “Three is company. She can’t hear from a distance like you can, and although she’d be able to tell me what he can do, I think he’ll probably tell me that himself.”

Ash just shrugged and looked out of the window. “
How many of us are there?”

“For all we know there could be millions, not like Corey would tell us any different. But I guess it doesn’t matter since I don’t trust anything that comes out of her mouth anymore. She’s hiding something from us and I know it.” Heat flushed over my body, I wanted so badly to unleash the blaze that was building up; it seemed to be the only way to relieve the stress. I imagined the rush of being fully flamed and free. I hadn’t had a chance since that day I showed Ash in my room.

“I don’t see what you see, you have to believe in the possibilities. It was really random and you ought to know that she wouldn’t say anything like that by now.”

I gazed at the yellow lines in the road; I could taste the anticipation in my throat; what if he just told me stuff I already knew? That wouldn’t be helpful at all.

“What if he tells you what you already know?”

“I was seriously just thinking that, it wouldn’t be helpful at all. Can you hear me?”

He shook his head and continued looking out of the window. “I haven’t really heard you in a while.”

“That’s the way I intend to keep it,” I replied. That was one thing I was hoping that he would be able to tell me, if there was a better way to weeding thoughts without mumbling like an idiot all of the time.

We were close now; I saw the plush green grass of the park as I slowed down before turning into the entrance. “Let me out right here,” Ash said, opening the door before I came to a complete stop. “I’ll be close, let me know if you need me. Code word, robots.” He shut the door behind him as he headed off to a swing set.              

The park was nearly empty because there was a chance of rain and the smart people had decided to stay home. But still, there were a few people running around on the track with their dogs. I spotted Wade standing under a gazebo with his back to the road; his short black hair whipping gracefully in the breeze. The gravel crunched under the tires as I pulled into the grass next to the gazebo. Wade turned around as I stepped out of the car.

“Hey, glad you could make it.” he smiled brightly.

I stepped over the rocks and stepped up onto the platform. “So lay it on me, what do you know?” I watched his smile fade and he took a seat on the bench.

“Okay, right to the point then, have a seat.”

The wind whirled warmly through my hair and I smelled the pre-rain air. I’d rather stand but for the sake of being nice I walked over to the bench he offered and sat down beside him. I could sense his discomfort as I scooted closer.

“Well let me just start by telling you what I am. I can sense the intentions of others, so I know your brother is here listening. Also, when I touch things or people these visions pass through my mind. Well not just with my hands really, if anything touches me at all. When I unintentionally bumped into you yesterday, I saw the fire and a girl, I also saw the mind reading and the struggles you have with it,” he fidgeted with his fingers for a moment before continuing, “A guy, Joseph I believe, after you had sex with him he was temporarily thrown into a state of delusion. Your powers are not like anything I’ve ever seen.”

“So you know about the powers too, huh? This all just seems too random. Does everyone I meet have them? How many other people do you know with them? Where the hell are all of the regular
people?”

My voice was unintentionally raised as the questions kept flying from my mouth. I couldn’t stop them because they needed to be answered. “Give me answers or give me death,” I continued, looking up into the trees.

“My brother and I both have them. Maybe you’ve seen him around school, his name is Nikko.”

My heart stopped. “Nikko?”

“Yeah, you’ve seen him?”

“Once,” I answered, my day suddenly looking up.

The hard graphite eyes that’d stunned me that day at the market, I dreamed of them frequently. I sat quietly on the bench slowly processing the things he was trying to tell me; by now I should have been used to hearing strange information, but his delivery was different, it was as if he was almost embarrassed for me and just amazed. “You learned everything in two seconds?” I responded after an unhealthy amount of awkward silence.

“Yeah, it flashes by pretty fast but it all makes perfect sense. You don’t have to mumble anymore either, let me help you.” He lifted both of his hands and shook them loose.

“Don’t get too personal,” I said, giving him a warning eye.

“Don’t
worry; I’m not going to touch you.”

With both of his hands on the two sides of my forehead, just barely bushing the skin he closed his eyes and began concentrating. A high-pitched siren swept through my ears, the thoughts that had accumulated from the last couple of weeks rambled through my brain, forcing me to relive the horror as it scrambled around. I shut my eyes and fought against the madness, I could handle this.

“You can open your eyes now, try it out.”

I blinked the park back into focus; Ash was walking toward us now because there was no use of him hiding when Wade already knew he was here.

There was a soft ringing in my ears, I felt strangely different. “What do I do?”

“Look into Ash’s eyes, they say the eyes are the window to the soul, now in your case you can literally see through it. He can do the same to you.” He smiled at his reference and turned to look at my brother as he stepped up onto the platform.

I looked into his eyes, immediately I heard more than just thoughts; I saw visions and heard sounds, almost seeing the world as Ash viewed it.

“I can feel that,” Ash said, pulling away from my gaze.

“Yeah anyone that has any type of power usually will feel when someone is using their power on them. Just ask my brother.”

“What do I do when I can’t look into someone’s eyes?”

The rain had finally started to come down with the cold immediately following it. I folded my arms together and looked at Wade, he was prepared with a jacket of his own and gloves.

“Just focus on anything else of theirs, it’s not limited to the eyes but it’s the best way not to creep someone completely out.”

I shrugged then got up from the bench, the wind was blowing the rain directly into the gazebo now and I would be soaking wet in no time. “Thank you so much Wade, you have no idea what this means to me.” I wanted to reach out and give him a hug but he didn’t need to know any more than he already did about me. “Who taught you?”

“My mother and grandmother. They could probably help you way more than I ever could, sorry Ash, I don’t know how to help you,” he replied.

Ash’s eyebrows rose in question then softened. Obviously he’d intended to ask Wade for help.

“Forget about Ash, take me to your mom and grandma.”

He shrugged then got up from the bench. “My grandmother usually just comes out of nowhere and my mother is out of this world.”

“She’s that weird, huh?”

Wade laughed. “No, literally, she’s out of this
world
. Her and my brother took the portal to Polythias a few days ago.”

Fuck! Was there every going to be a successful trail to follow?

“Could you please let me know when they return?” I asked sweetly. It didn’t matter to me that he’d just said his mom
and brother had left this world; there’d be another day when I could inquire about them. I might even just ask Corey just to see the confused look on her face as she realizes I can do this without her stinking help.