Crimson Echo (26 page)

“How can you say that? They’re people too!” I looked up from the road to scowl at him.

“How can you defend them?”

“How can you be so cruel? This isn’t the Gabe I remember.”

“A lot has changed in the last few years. People grow up, people change.” He hung his head.

“I guess you’re right.”
I frowned.

            It wasn’t long before we were pulling into his driveway. He had to give me directions in between his spurts of witch bashings. There was a long awkward silence as we sat in my car and stared at Gabe’s front door. Finally he unbuckled his seatbelt and took a deep breath.

“Umm, do you want to come inside?” He asked sheepishly, though I think he was just trying to be polite.

“Oh, no, I should really be getting home. I have to prepare for my first day of work tomorrow.”

“Okay, goodnight. Good luck with your new job.” He gave me a genuine smile.

            He slowly made his way through the slushy, white snow and only peeked back at me twice. I definitely hadn’t intended to end the day with Gabe on such a low note, but I figured I could make it up to him by dropping some lunch off after I got off of work.

                                                                 Chapter Eleven

                                               
   The Future Hangs in the Balance

“Can you cover my tables for
half an hour or so, sugar?” Ruby asked, sitting her dirty, red apron to the side.

I gave her a frightened look, though I really wasn’t doing as badly as I
had expected I would— I was amazed to learn that I could actually multi-task.

“You can do it,” she reminded me. “You’ve bee
n here a little over a week and you’re practically a natural at this. I’ll make it quick. I have to interview a new waitress today.”

           
I hadn’t dropped any dishes in the last four days, which was a small feat, but I was behind on my homework and I had no social life to speak of—not that I had much of one before. I still hadn’t spoken to Kane since the incident. I figured I would let him sweat it out a little longer before I talked to him.

“I’ll be fine, go ahea
d.” I assured her as I emptied a half eaten plate of food.

“If you need anything just ask Jerrod for help, that’s what he’s here for.”

           Jarrod was the bus boy and Ruby’s grandson, which was odd because she didn’t look old enough to be a grandma. I wasn’t completely sure, but I was starting to think that he might have a small crush on me. I swear every time I looked up I could see him staring at me out of the corner of my eye.

            He also
informed me about all the customers that I would need to look out for. Apparently there were a few that would try to stiff the new waitresses. After I felt that Jarrod and I were friends I couldn’t help but ask where his grandmother had gotten her thick accent from. He told me the story of how she left a small town in Oklahoma with her daughter and a few dollars in her pocket and how they settled here in Echo Oregon. Suddenly, Ruby’s quirks all made sense to me.

           
My tables were occupied by all of my regular patrons, I had even memorized most of their names and orders by now— it really worked out in my favor when they ordered the same thing every day, but it didn’t take me long before I started to feel overwhelmed by all of the customers and their incessant refills.

           
I was keeping up my tables and Ruby’s pretty well, Jarrod only had to help me out once by delivering food to a group of frat boys that stopped in to sober up after a night of keg stands and beer pong. They recanted the previous night loud enough for the whole restaurant to hear. I was too busy to notice how long it had taken Ruby to interview the new waitress before she came dancing around the corner and relieving me of her tables.

“Thanks for holding down the fort, sweet cheeks.” She smiled
, placing an omelet in front of old man Blagg. “The new girl will be out in a minute, she’s changing into her uniform.” She stifled a laugh.

“What’s so funny?” I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the plate glass window and smoothed out my hair.

“Personally, I don’t think she’s going to last a day. She looks like she was raised with a silver spoon in her mouth, probably never done a single day of hard work in her life, but we need the help.”

“Are we placing bets?” I teased.

Ruby’s boisterous laugh echoed throughout the small establishment. “I’ll let her follow you around for the next few days. It’ll give you a break for awhile. I’ve been working you to the bone lately.” She gave me an apologetic smile. “Well, there she is now.”

           
And there she was in a blue polo shirt and white faded jean shorts, cut off way above the knee.

“I hope you don’t mind, I made a few alterations.” Her velvet voice rang out as she gave a spin, revealing the knotted shirt above her torso.

“This isn’t that kind of joint, girly!” Ruby huffed as she pulled the knot out of the girl’s shirt. “Tristan, this is Sabrina, Sabrina this is Tristan.”

She pulled her strawberry blonde hair up into a
high pony tail and walked over to the table I was clearing. She took half the dishes out of my hands and stacked six empty cups in her other hand. “Nice to meet you.” She smiled, her skin was like porcelain, her lashes thick and black and her lips were ruby red.

            I stared at her for an immeasurable moment trying to figure out where I had seen her
before. She looked familiar. I didn’t think I knew anyone by the name Sabrina, but I had heard it come up in conversation once. It took me another minute and a half to realize that Kane had told me he had a sister named Sabrina the day we walked through the woods behind Emporia.

“
Sabrina,” I eyed her suspiciously. “Sabrina Evans, Kane’s sister?”

“What gave it away?” She shrugged.

“Your eyes, they’re as blue as Kane’s and he mentioned once that he had a sister named Sabrina.”

“I’ve always thought they were brighter than my little brother’s, don’t you
think?” She smirked and twirled her ponytail.

“What are you doing here?
You can’t need the money.”

“You’re right, I don’t need the money. I was just bored.
I’m nearly four centuries old. You’d be surprised at how quickly things get stale. Sometimes you have to change it up a bit.” She said, gauging my reaction.

            I rolled my eyes at the thought of getting a job for fun. Ruby
had hit the nail on the head when she said that Sabrina looked like she had been raised with a silver spoon in her mouth. I took the handful of plates and walked back toward the kitchen.

“Hey, where are you going?” Sabrina asked following closely behind me.

“I’m going to clean these dishes,” I answered as I discarded the remaining scrapes of food into the trash can. I dropped the stack of plates in the sink full of bubbles and then headed outside for my break. “That’s what you do when you get a job. You actually have to work.”

            She followed me out to the back of the diner and sat down at a long wooden picnic table designated as the smoking section by hundreds of cigarette butts. Her posture was perfect like a ballerina and in the sunlight her light blue eyes almost looked white.

“Sarcasm,” She smiled. “I like it. I think we’re going to get along just fine.”

“Who says I want to?”

“Who says I’m asking?” She smirked. “You didn’t even bat an eye when I told you how long I’ve lived. Most people would probably kill over or lock me up for having delusions of grandeur, but you didn’t.”

“I’m not most people.”

“I guess you’re right. So, tell me what’s going on between you and my dear brother?”

“You’re not here because of Kane are you?” I asked
skeptically, feeling the anger well up inside of me. “Did he put you up to this?”

“He has no clue that I’m here and if he found out he would probably turn me into Barbecue
.” She crinkled her nose as she stared at the large trash bins that were too far away for my human senses to pick up.

“
So, why are you really here?” I pushed.

“I know Kane messed things up, but I wanted to talk to you myself. I wanted to try to convince you that he is extremely sorry for what he’s done.”

“Why couldn’t he tell me himself?”

“Would you have listened if he had?” Her eyebrow
lifted a fraction as she waited for my answer.

“Probably not,” I hung my head. “I’m not mad at him for the remark he made, I’m upset with him because of all the secrets he keeps from me. Haven’t I proven myself already? I’m not going to do anything to get you or your family caught, I wouldn’t do that to him.”

“He knows that. We all know that. It’s just difficult to break the habit of keeping secrets when we’ve had to do it all of our lives, it’s something that we’ve had to do to survive and then there’s the added pressure because you’re human. That makes it all the more difficult.”

“I never thought of it that way.”

“Well, I hope that helps you to understand why he does the things he does sometimes.” She said as she got up from the picnic table.

“Hey Sabrina, what would you have done if I hadn’t seen things your way?”

“I hadn’t really given it much thought.” She said as she stood in the doorway smiling and then she held her hand up and waved, making a show of it. Something strange happened when she waved at me. It looked like little bolts of electricity danced around her fingers and palm. I had to rub my eyes to make sure what I was seeing was real.

“I can’t believe you came here and on top of that have the nerve to threaten me
with your powers.”

“I know and I’m sorry for doing this, but you have to know what he’s going through. I didn’t know any other way of going about it. I can’t stand to be around him anymore, it’s depressing. He mopes around all day feeling sorry for himself and trying to figure out a way to win you back.”

“So,
let me get this straight. You decided it would be a good idea to come and persuade me to give him another chance and the fact that you’re a perfect stranger to me didn’t seem like a bad idea to you?”

“When you put it like that it sounds crazy, but yes. You know he cares for you.”

“Why is this so important to you? Don’t you have anything better to do than meddle in your brother’s love life?”

“I’m doing this because he’s my brother and I love him. Tristan, the only time I’ve seen him remotely happy was when he was with you. That’s why I’m doing this, because I can see how strongly he feels about you, even if you can’t see it.”

“I’ll take to him, but only because I want to, not because you want me to.”

“Good, that’s what I wanted to hear.” She clapped excitedly. “You won’t be sorry, I promise.”

“Don’t make me regret this.” I warned.

“I won’t. Maybe in time you could come to trust us again?” She asked hopefully.

“So, what’s the plan? I mean, what if he doesn’t take me back?” I blew a pile of gray ashes from the table ignoring her question.

“I don’t really have one. I’m a fly by the s
eat of my pants type of girl. We’re just going to wing it.” She admitted candidly. “But, I don’t think there’s a chance that he’ll deny you.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” I whispered into my shoulder. “You never know what the future holds, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how it all works out.”

“I’ve already seen the future and I know exactly how it all turns out.”

“You can see the future too?” I asked, still not completely sure if she would electrocute me or not.

“No, but I have many powerful friends.” She
smiled smugly.

“
That’s why you’re really here isn’t it? You want to make sure this future becomes a reality.”

“This conversation
went a lot better in my head.” She wiped her brow. “Look, you’re the reason I came here today. It will happen either way. I just wanted to give you a little push. Tristan, you were happy, we were all happy.”

“Yo
u can’t force me into doing something, whether I want to do it or not.” I informed her. “Why don’t you just let fate take its course?”

“Oh Tristan, don’t be so naïve. I can make you do anything I want.”

“You wouldn’t!” I fumed.

“
There’s something you should know about me. You’ll learn never to underestimate an Evan’s woman. I always get what I want.”

“I already said I would go through with it, but I’m doing it my way and you
will
stay out of it.”

“Fine, as long as it gets done.” She straightened her apron and went back inside.

           I didn’t dignify her with a response. I guess I was going to do what she wanted whether I liked it or not. I could do it of my own free will or hers, but either way it would have to be done if I didn’t want a million tiny bolts of electricity running through my body.