Dark and Twisted (9 page)

The crappy thing about living in a small town like Copake Falls is that news travels fast. By Monday, the nickname freak is at an all-time high. Even kids that pretend I don’t exist are suddenly interested in me, laughing every time I pass them in the hall.

“Just ignore them,” Liv tells me for what must be the hundredth time today.

“I have been,” I sigh. It still doesn’t mean their words don’t hold an extra sting today. Normally, I can block it out, but I feel raw and exposed—like the attack has changed me. I feel vulnerable, scared, and it has me questioning my own sanity. I squeeze my eyes shut for a moment, seeing my attacker’s the glowing red eyes. Could the creature be hiding amongst us? Pretending to be human.

“So what are you going to do?” Liv asks.

I shrug. “Try to find him myself,” I admit.

“Eden, I don’t think that is a good idea. Where would you even begin? You don’t have much to go on.”

“I hurt his hand. That will narrow down some of the potential attackers.” I hesitate to tell her about his eyes, but this is Liv, and she is my best friend. If I can’t tell my bestie about the guy with glowing eyes, then who can I tell?

“Liv, have you ever seen someone that looked like their eyes were glowing?” I want to pull my words back the moment I say it.

Liv instantly stops walking and turns to me. People push past us, giving us scrutinizing looks as they hurry to their next class.

“Why?” she asks.

I shrug my shoulders, not knowing how to explain what I saw. “Is this for a character you are writing?” she inquires further, trying to give me an excuse for asking. “Zombies don’t have glowing eyes, Eden, they’re dead.”

For a moment, I think about going with it and saying the question was related to my novel, but this is Liv, my best friend, the one that sat with me at my parents’ funeral. The one person who didn’t stop being my friend when the names started in school. This is the girl who used her mom’s sewing needle to make a blood promise with me that we would be always and friends forever, to tell each other the truth, and be each other’s maid of honor.

“I have to get to class,” I say.

“Eden, don’t.”

Liv looks hurt as I walk away from her, but I don’t stop. I keep going until I push open the nearest door and collapse against the wall. The back of my throat itches and my eyes sting. I drop my bag on the floor.

“Eden?”

I yelp, pushing off the wall, ready to run, but it is only Ralph. I take a deep breath, needing to get it together.

Ralph stands next to a white board. “Are you okay? You look like shit. You’re not going to get sick are you?”

I slump back against the wall. “Fine, I’m fine. I just need…”

Could Ralph have been the one who attacked me? Maybe he is tired of me undermining him as editor. He’s creepy and slimy, and if anyone is pretending to be human but is really an alien in disguise, he would be that guy.

“Where were you this weekend?” Adrenaline pumps through me, and my heart slams into my chest.

“I don’t have to explain anything to you, but if you must know, I was Mountain Biking with my cousin,” he says.

“You were what?” I snap. He is lying. This is the kid who cannot take part in any athletic activity—or so the note from his mom says. During gym, he uses the computer to play World of Warcraft and eats Cheetos from the vending machine in the teachers’ lounge.

“You did not! Where were you really?” My voice has taken on a hysterical tone.

“Fine, I was at home.”

“And? Did you go anywhere?”

“I am not telling you.”

I glare at him, giving him the death stare.

“Okay, God, I was baking cookies with my mom, are you happy?” He glowers at me.

I let out a shaky laugh, both relieved and disappointed because that means my attacker is still out there.

“Eden, I swear to God, if you tell anyone, I’ll make sure you stay on the sports column until we graduate.”

“Tell you what, let me do that piece on homecoming, and your secret is safe with me.”

He narrows his eyes. “No way. That’s a horrible idea for the article, and no one will read it.”

I roll my eyes. “What kind of cookies where they, Ralph?”

“I’m warning you, Eden.” He points his chubby finger at me.

“Ralph, no one reads the paper besides your mom. Give me the article and your extreme baking will stay our little secret.” I cross my heart.

He hesitates, but I have him. “Fine, but if the paper goes under, it’s on you.”

“I can live with that,” I smile.

“But, you still have to do the sports article,” he whines.

“Fine.” Truthfully, I wouldn’t tell anyone anyway, but he doesn’t need to know that.

“Hey, what are you doing?” he barks, obviously mad that I blackmailed him.

“I need to use the computer.” I sit down at one of the ancient machines, and the machine groans in protest as I turn it on.

“You can’t use them. They are for the facility.”

“Ralph, I will only be a minute. I saw Mr. Hays bringing in a box of donuts to the teachers’ lounge.” Being chief and editor gives Ralph special privileges to use the copy machine in the teachers’ lounge and snag whatever food the teachers bring in.

“I will be back, and you better be gone.”

I wiggle my fingers at him as he leaves the room.

I type in the search bar, ‘glowing eyes,’ ‘why would someone’s eyes glow’, and then, ‘reports of people with glowing eyes’. It pulls up everything from radiation poisoning to toxic spills. I even click on o a link that offers contacts that promise to make your eyes glow. There is nothing substantial about people with glowing eyes until I click on to a link about strange and paranormal activity. It’s filled with images of ghosts and aliens. I enlarge the picture, enlarging it. It’s of a man-sized alien with glowing eyes. I shake my head. I don’t want to believe that it was anything to do with aliens or paranormal activity.

I’m not Essie. I’m not crazy!

###

I set my lunch tray down at the table. A limp looking chicken sandwich sets next to my chocolate milk in a silent protest against Liv.

“You’re not still mad, are you?” she asks.

I take a bite out of the sandwich but have to take a drink of my milk to choke it down. It tastes how it looks—like cardboard.

“Eden, come on, we’re talking about people with glowing eyes. You cannot really believe that the guy’s eyes were glowing,” she argues.

“That’s not the point.” I rip off another piece of my sandwich, making her cringe.

She throws her hands in the air. “Then what is?”

“How about you are supposed to be my best friend? How about a blood promise?” I hold my index finger up. If I squint hard enough, I can still see a tiny white scare from it. I think.

“So you’re mad because I asked Brittney to be my maid of honor in fifth grade?” She smiles at me.

“I’m still mad at you for that, but you didn’t believe me.”

I know she has a point about the glowing eyes, I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes.

“Eden, when we made that promise, it was to always tell each other the truth.”

I drop the greasy sandwich to the tray. “Then believe me. I know what I saw, Liv.”

“I’m worried about you,” she says searching my face.

I know she wants me to elaborate more on the topic. She wants me to tell her that I’m not like Essie—that I’m sane. Suddenly, I regret eating that sandwich because it sets like a lead weight in my stomach.

“What are we talking about?” Jamie plops down next to Liv and pulls her chair closer to his, kissing her on the cheek.

“Nothing, just girl talk,” Liv smiles up at him.

“You’re right, I don’t want to know,” he says while holding up his hands and showing off a red cast.

“How did you hurt your hand?” I ask, practically crawling across the table. I grip the hard plastic chair to keep from bolting.

“Eden!” Liv hisses.

Jamie looks from me to Liv, and then at me again with an incredulous look on his face.

“I sprained it last night at practice.”

My stomach twists, and I feel like I might get sick.

“I believe you, babe.” Liv narrows her eyes at me.

Jamie shakes his head as if he is confused as to why she wouldn’t believe him. “Anyway, Coach is running these ridiculous drills thanks to Valentine. He thinks that we all need to be on the same playing level as Valentine. That kid is a machine on the field, it’s like he was born with a ball in his hand. You should have seen him yesterday. Not one of us could touch him, not even Brice, and he is our best runner.”

Jamie looks around the table at our trays. “Are you going to eat that?” He reaches for my half-eaten sandwich. “I tell you what, if Coach doesn’t chill with the drills, he isn’t going to have a team left. Half of us went home sore and injured.” He takes a bite out of the sandwich then glances at Liv. “Don’t worry, babe. I’ll be healed up in time for homecoming.”

Liv quickly puts on a smile and pats him on the knee. “I know you will.”

This just made finding my attacker that much harder.

###

Sure enough, almost half the football team has injuries, by the time I walk into class, my head is aching. Mr. Wissian barely acknowledges me.
Thanks, I’m doing great since you found me in the woods.
He doesn’t even wait until I’m at my desk before he starts his lecture about some book that apparently no one cares about.

“Okay, ladies and gentlemen. We are going to shake things up a bit since none of you seem to be absorbing the information that I’m telling you,” he announces after his long lecture. Half the class has their heads down, so he adds, “Wake up, friends. You are going to partner up with the person directly across from you and answer these questions for the remainder of the class.”

In unison, a groan goes through the room as he begins to write the questions on the board.

“Oh, come on, people. I discussed these points in my last two lectures. You should have all the answers to them in your notebooks.”

There is a sharp jab to my shoulder. “Give me a pen,” Buck whispers.

“No way. Get it from your partner,” I hiss.

“Come on, Day, give me a pen.” He jabs me in the shoulder again.

If I ignore him, it’s just going to get worse, so I dig in my bag and hand him a pen. When he reaches up to take it, I can see that his hand is wrapped in sliver tape.
I knew it was Buck. That no good slime ball, I am going to kill him for scaring the crap out of me. What did he use to make his eyes glow? Contacts perhaps. A mask. Okay, calm down Eden hold it together. Buck is on the football team, so that does explain his injury.
I let go of the pen and turn in my chair. Buck is using my pen to scratch his head, and for a moment, I’m distracted by the grossness of it.

“Your hand is hurt,” I state.

He stops scratching himself, lowers the pen to his ear and starts to dig in his ear with the tip.

“What’s your issue, Freak?” he asks.

“How did you hurt it?” I try again.

“None ya,” he replies.

“Excuse me?” I say, startled.

“None ya,” he repeats slowly. “As in none ya business.” He gets up and goes over to Shane’s desk, who looks terrified at being partnered up with him.

Jerk. It couldn’t be Buck because he couldn’t stay silent this long about it. He would have used it to mock me in some way.

I don’t have time to worry about Buck anymore because the class begins to move desks. I turn my desk around facing Cardelian’s and do a quick scan of him to see if he has any injuries. When I see that he is injury free, I release the breath I was holding. His notes are setting neatly on the desk in front of him, ready to work. Apparently, he pays attention in class, unlike me. I silently thank the school gods for partnering us up.

“Hey,” he says with a perfect smile that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

“Hey.”

“I heard what happened to you.”

I’m sure he wants to know what meds I’m on or why I’m such a freak. Two questions I have been asked all day. “Everyone heard what happened to me.” I wait for the questioning and name calling.

“Are you okay?” He leans closer to me.

I’m taken back by his question because no one has asked me that. No, I’m not okay. I feel like I’m jumping out of my skin at every noise. I’m questioning my sanity, and I’m accusing people I’ve known my whole life. He pushes his golden curls back giving me a better glimpse at his warm, honey-colored eyes that are filled with concern.

“I’ll be okay,” I nervously bite at my thumb.

He reaches out, putting his hand on top of mine, stopping me. A wave of heat runs through him to me. “I believe you.”

The heat from Mrs. Heart’s kiln has put most of the class to sleep, but the sound of someone playing a game on their phone keeps me from dozing off. I jot down a list of everything I remember about the attacker. There has to be something that I’m missing. I try to remember some small detail I could have missed, but the memory is starting to fade into the back of my mind.

Tall.

Thin.

Dressed in all black.

Hands of fire.

Glowing eyes.

I scratch off the last two sentences. Liv is right, I am acting crazy. I was under stress, and I could have imagined it. I turn to Jaxson and watch as he drags his pencil across the paper so hard that it has begun to rip. I’m about to ask him what’s wrong when I notice his right hand. Everything seems to slow down, and the pieces start to click together. His hand is in his lap and it’s wrapped neatly in white gauze. My mind rewinds back to the woods—tall, thin, and dressed all in black with glowing eyes.

As if he can hear my thoughts, his head snaps up.

“How did you hurt your hand?”

“I’m fine, thanks,” he says sarcastically.

“How did you hurt it?” I ask again, this time with more force.

“No wonder you’re so popular. Your manners are impeccable.”

Blood pounds in my ears as it races through my veins. He grabs his stuff off the table. The bell must have rung because the room empties in a flood of students. Jaxson starts to melt into the crowd, but I’m not about to let him get away that easily. I grab my things and run after him. How did I not see it before? It never once crossed my mind that it could be Jaxson, but now I don’t see how it could be anyone else. I need to know why he did it.

I catch up with him at his locker. The one right next to mine that he never visits. I’m gasping for air when I reach it. His locker is strangely clean. A perfect line of textbooks sits on the top shelf from tallest to smallest. Not an item out of place, not a dirty shirt from gym class, not a discarded piece of paper—nothing. Strange for a teenage boy, but he’s not normal. He might not even be human. I need answers and I need them now.

“Your locker is really clean,” I say, trying to slow my heartbeat.

“Now you’re going to interrogate me about my locker?” He slams the door shut and snaps the lock in place before turning to me. He has an air of superiority that is not there when he’s hunched over his drawings.

The alarms start again in my head.
Danger, run, run. Run!

“I wasn’t interrogating you. It’s just that I’ve never seen a guy’s locker so clean before.”

“So you have seen a lot of guys’ lockers before?” He raises his eyebrow.

My cheeks flare with heat. “No. That’s not what I mean.” I want to sneak away.

He pushes his hair back, exposing the sharp contours of his face, and his pale blue eyes bore into mine. He reminds me of the vampire lead in the book I just read. Dark, handsome, and dangerously scary. Do vampires have glowing eyes?

“Would you say that you’ve seen many? Or just one special boy’s locker?” His words are sharp and menacing causing me to blush.

I step back, trying to put some space between us. He steps closer to me, demanding all of my attention. We’re not talking about lockers anymore, he’s trying to get to me, and it is working.

“How many lockers, Eden?”

I drag in a sharp breath because he’s never said my name before, and the way he says it makes it sound like a threat.

“That is none of your business.” I wrap my arms around myself protectively as if that will somehow shield me from him.

“Ahhh, so there is one special guy. Let me guess, he’s tall and handsome, with golden locks and dreamy eyes.” He leans against the locker, crossing his legs at the ankles.

It takes me a moment to realize he’s talking about his brother. “You mean Cardelian?” I finally manage to choke out. His eyes darken, and a shiver runs down my spine.

“Who else would I mean?” he says coldly. The air around him goes colder, seeming to match his mood.

“I don’t like him. I mean, I like him, but not like that. Why do you even care?” Heat spreads down my neck.
How did we get on this topic?

“You could say that I’m fiercely protective over what is mine,” he growls. A promise and a threat, all at the same time. “After all, Cardelian is my brother,” he leans closer to me.

The strong smell of rain and pine fill my senses. Normal boys don’t smell like this. He is so much taller than me. He slams his hand on the locker, jarring me. I jump, a small squeak sneaking out of my mouth. The halls have emptied, and we are alone. No witnesses.

“You have the wrong idea. We’re just friends, probably not even that. I’m sure that he doesn’t even know I exist,” I say with a nervous laugh.

“Somehow I doubt that.” His voice is dangerous and perfect at the same time.

I am terrified, but there is a small part of me that is not. I straighten up. “Stop changing the subject,” I bark, gaining back my nerve. “Where were you last night?” I demand.

He turns, bracing his hands on the locker behind me, trapping me. I want to run and scream as badly as I want to stay and feel him move closer, pressing me against the locker as cold rolls off him.

“I was out taking a walk.”

“Alone?” I swallow hard, more afraid of the answer than him. I want him to say no, I need him to have an alibi—something to clear him of all charges. I want him to kiss me. If he is an alien, I hope he can’t read minds.

A cocky grin splits across his face, and he tugs one of the silver studs into his mouth, drawing my attention to his lips. They are perfect lips, ones that any girl would die for—full and pink—and I want to feel them pressed against my own.

“I’m always alone.”

My heart slams into my chest. “Where?” I lick my parched lips.

He leans his head down so that his lips brush the bottom of my ear, and his cold breath washes down my neck, sending uncontrollable shivers across my skin.

“I was in the woods behind your house.”

“What’s going on here?” Cardelian asks, his warm voice chasing away the cold.

Jaxson lets out a breath, and it nips at my skin. Standing up just slightly, he smiles at me and answers Cardelian. “Nothing is going on here, brother.”

He turns, blocking Cardelian from my view, but I can feel the tension in the air.

“Really?” He doesn’t sound as if he believes him, and there is alarm in his voice.

“Don’t believe me? Ask Eden.”

He steps aside, and I can breathe again.

“Eden?” Caredlain brow is furrowed in worry.

I should tell him that Jaxson practically admitted that he attacked me, but he didn’t actually say the words. “Everything is fine.” I finally say, stepping forward and glancing at Jaxson as he stares at Cardelian with eyes like ice.

“See,” Jaxson says.

“Okay.” Cardelian nods his head, but I can tell he isn’t satisfied.

“I’ll see you around, Ace,” Jaxson says, pushing past me and Cardelian and leaving us alone.

When Jaxson is out of earshot Cardelian says, “Eden you need to be careful.”

“Why?”

“Eden, please just be careful.”

“Because of Jaxson?”

He doesn’t answer, he will not look me in the eye, and I want to scream at the mystery that surrounds his brother. What is Cardelian protecting Jaxson from?

“Eden it’s complicated.”