Channeler's Choice (32 page)

For a moment the weight behind Patli’s eyes made Eren think she was angry. Then the mask cracked a bit and Eren got a glimpse of the deep gratitude behind it.

“
What you’re doing is wrong,” Patli began.

She had expected this. Eren prepared to argue a point that she thought should have been obvious, but Patli quickly went on.

“
But thank you.” And with that Patli turned and walked off.

Left alone in the hallway, Eren stared after her in disbelief. Considering she had a great argument all ready to go, she felt kind of cheated. Cheated, and pleasantly surprised.

“
The bond of a Society is a force

to be reckoned with.”

~from
Life In A Society

Chapter 31

Caitlin zipped her up and Eren stepped over to the mirror to take a look. The sleek purple dress clung to her every curve, curves Eren hadn’t even realized she had. It looked elegant and sexy with a neckline that dipped rather than plunged, and a hem that reached just above her ankles. She loved the feel of it, smooth and cool like water against her skin.

“
It looks wicked,” Caitlin said.

Turning every which way to scrutinize each angle, Eren decided it looked almost as great as it felt. Still, she couldn’t help but be nervous about what Aiden would think. Would he like her hair all wrapped up on her head? Would he think the lipstick or black high heels were too much?

“
Quit worrying. He’ll love it,” Caitlin chided.

She knew Caitlin couldn’t read her mind, but sometimes it felt like it. Turning to look at her, Eren felt foolish for worrying so much, and for not complimenting her sooner. In a champagne colored dress with subdued lipstick to match, she looked stunning. Her hair was woven up into a bun similar to Eren’s but with loose curls dangling here and there. Eren had never seen her friend look quite so mature and classy. It reminded her that it wouldn’t be long before they were both seventeen.

“
You look incredible. Seriously, you’re going to knock Fane dead.”

Caitlin grinned and wiggled her eyebrows as she put her arm around Eren’s shoulder. “They won’t know what hit them.”

Through the breaks in their laughter, Eren heard Aunt Sylvia coming up the stairs. Her aunt’s face lit up the moment she laid eyes on them. Once her feet stilled, Eren heard why she’d come to get them. The boys were here. She felt the press of their energy from downstairs. They were exchanging greetings with Uncle Alin and Zolin, their voices echoing up into the loft.

“
You both look so beautiful!” Aunt Sylvia said in a voice that caught.

Before Eren and Caitlin could finish saying thank you, she went on. “You know I have no problems with you breaking tradition. I’m actually proud of you for it. But a lot of people won’t like it. They might even try to keep you from going to the dance. If that happens remember, it’s only a dance, it’s not worth fighting over.”

Feeling the distress radiating from her aunt, Eren grabbed her hand. She didn’t want to cause her any more stress than she already was, especially over a dance. “Take a breath, Aunt Sylvia. We’ll be fine.”

Sylvia sighed and almost looked relaxed for a moment then her eyes lit back up with determination. She reached into her pocket and handed something to both her and Caitlin. Eren flinched and nearly dropped it when she realized her aunt had placed a condom on her palm. Caitlin made a noise between a laugh and a gasp. When Eren looked over at her she was smiling and shaking her head.

“
Aunt Sylvia! You put me on the pill, remember?” Eren whispered.

“
Of course I do. But this is in case you haven’t been taking it. You both have very long lives ahead of you, now is not the time for accidents. And Caitlin dear, I’m very fond of you but I don’t want grandchildren for at least another several years, or decades,” Sylvia insisted as she reached out to touch Caitlin’s cheek.

Caitlin smiled at her and blushed. Eren kind of wished the guys could have seen that, Caitlin never blushed!

Putting an arm around both of them, Aunt Sylvia led them from the room and down the stairs, chatting all the while about responsibility and how she wasn’t condoning sex and hoped they never actually had it. Halfway down, Caitlin turned to Eren and mouthed the words, ‘birth control, really?’ Groaning, Eren hung her head and wished her hair was down so she could hide behind it. A sharp intake of breath made her raise her head and look into the living room.

At the bottom of the stairs Aiden and Fane awaited them, flanked by Uncle Alin and Eren’s grandfather. Only a glimpse of Fane’s crème shirt and black pants caught Eren’s attention before her eyes were drawn to Aiden. His tousled brown and black hair had been tamed a bit and he wore a luxuriously soft looking brown shirt and sleek black pants. If he walked around like that very often, GQ would come knocking on his door, along with every girl in the neighborhood. She suddenly felt tremendously relieved that he had asked
her
to the dance. If he had gone with Bridget, Eren would have wanted to die.

“
Wow,” Aiden murmured.

At that moment he looked like he would fight through legions to get to her. Maybe the heels weren’t over the top after all. Not caring about the blush that was working its way to her cheeks, she smiled at him. It was a good thing she’d walked in heels a lot before she’d come to Spruce Knoll because she never looked down at the stairs. Her eyes had locked onto Aiden’s and she couldn’t look away. When he reached out and took her hand, his energy tingled over her fingers and raced up her arm.

They endured several minutes of advice and talk about curfew before the adults would let them out the door. Eren gulped down a huge lungful of fresh air and laughed when she heard the others do the same. The gravel drive wasn’t easy to manipulate in heels, but it gave her a good excuse to cling to Aiden’s arm. The feel of his taut bicep beneath her hand was very distracting, in a good way.

“
I didn’t think we were ever going to get out of there.” Aiden said.

“
I know. The way they lectured us, you’d think we’re teenagers,” Fane said with a raised eyebrow.

Caitlin faked a sarcastic laugh and rolled her eyes to the star-filled sky. It made Eren look up and take in the beauty of the night. Without a cloud in the sky, she could see more stars than she could ever hope to count. The temperature was so comfortable that she didn’t regret not putting on a wrap. It had the makings of a perfect night.

There was plenty of laughter and idle chatter as they walked to the Mayan restaurant, but Eren could still sense an underlying tension. Regardless of it, they had a good time at dinner. The people there were kind enough and most of the other patrons refrained from staring too much. Eren laughed at her friends as they tried the spicy dishes she had grown up eating. She was surprised to discover that Aiden actually liked most of the food. He even made her promise to make him some of her mom’s recipes.

As soon as they stepped back out into the night air and started toward the school, the tension returned. It increased with every step. By the time they reached the front doors of the school, they quit talking. Not even the beautiful decorations were enough to ease the mood or provoke a comment. Multi-colored lights lined the stairway and were strung around the trunks and branches of the spruce trees to either side of the school. Pop music cranked a touch too loud, poured out of the open doors.

Eren’s courage began to waver as they walked up the steps and she heard the girls at the ticket desk talking. She began to think that maybe this was a bad idea, but then Aiden’s hand tightened around hers and renewed her courage. Whatever these people said or did didn’t matter in the end, what did was that they had each other.

“
Let’s go shake this party up,” Caitlin said when they hesitated at the door.

Smiling at her, Eren took a deep breath, and walked through the door with Aiden. They didn’t have to go very far down the hall to reach the gym. The doors were propped open and alternating colors of light pulsed from the yawning darkness. Music thumped in an enticing beat from within. The two girls sitting at the desk beside the doors stopped talking and looked at the four of them in disbelief.

“
Four tickets please,” Aiden asked with a polite smile.

The pretty Tibetan girl holding the tickets turned her wide eyes to the Romanian girl beside her. The Romanian girl’s face was pinched with concern as she leaned forward and gave Aiden a careful look.

“
The four of you aren’t together, are you?” she asked.

The question cleared up any illusions Eren may have had about the girl’s intelligence. As if being arm in arm wasn’t enough, the whole school knew they were going out—including these two freshmen girls.

“
We are,” Aiden said.

Eren was glad he answered so quickly because she didn’t think she could have been as kind.

Both girls looked like they’d swallowed their tongues. By the subtle feel of their power, Eren could tell neither of them were Rector material. That aside, they looked too nice to be confrontational. Maybe there was a chance this wouldn’t be a hassle after all, still Eren hesitated to hope.

“
I suppose we could let Fane and Caitlin in, but our list says Aiden is supposed to arrive with Bridget and Eren should arrive with Felipe,” the Romanian girl said, shooting Caitlin a wary smile.

“
Our plans changed,” Aiden said in a carefully controlled voice.

The girl flinched at the flare of his power.

“
I’m sorry, we don’t have the authority to approve that. Yung, could you get Mr. McCready please?” the Romanian girl said with a slight smile and only a small quaver in her voice.

Eren sighed as they stepped back from the table and leaned against the far wall to wait. Of all people, Mr. McCready would have been one of her last choices to decide this. To say he didn’t like Eren would have been kind. She barely skimmed by with a C in his class and it wasn’t because her math skills were lacking.

With his jaw set in a hard line and his cheeks flaming bright, Mr. McCready stormed from the dark gym and bore down upon them. Eren and Aiden stepped in front of Fane and Caitlin. Both her and Aiden’s power flared at the same time. It surged up the back of her throat, warm and invigorating and anxious to be released. She had no doubt that if she let it go it would burn Mr. McCready as surely as scalding water. Remembering her aunt’s words, she held it back. This was not worth fighting over. However, she would not let this man threaten her or her Society.

Even though she and Aiden didn’t release their power, he must have felt it because he pulled back with a surprised look. From the disbelief in his eyes it was pretty obvious he was one of those people that didn’t believe a Society bond could form between channelers of different races. He didn’t look happy to discover he was wrong.

“
What is the meaning of this?” he demanded.

“
We’re here to attend the dance, Sir,” Aiden said.

While Aiden was calm and collected, Eren had to suppress the instinct to blow the disgusted look off Mr. McCready’s face. The way Caitlin’s power pressed against her back, Eren knew she wasn’t the only one restraining violent urges.

“
Not together you’re not. Aiden, Eren, you should be attending with the other champions in your own style. I should not have to explain this, its tradition,” Mr. McCready snapped.

“
It’s stupid, and say what you mean. You think they should be attending with their own
race
. Fane and I aren’t champions but you won’t let us in either will you?” Caitlin snapped.

Reaching back to touch her hand, Eren sent a wave of calming power pouring over Caitlin. She heard her sigh and felt her relax beneath her fingers. It wasn’t that Eren didn’t want to create a scene—she didn’t really care about that—what she didn’t want was to give Mr. McCready the satisfaction of knowing he’d upset them.

Mr. McCready spared a moment to throw a vicious glare at Caitlin, then turned his attention back to Aiden.

“
Eren’s participation in this competition is only tolerated because her grandfather is such a respected elder in this community. And as for you Aiden, you were beginning to show promise before this
girl
came into town. You should really reevaluate who you keep company with,” Mr. McCready said through gritted teeth.