Dark Seraphine (The Seraphine Trilogy) (10 page)

Clearing her throat and giving him the wide-eyed look
,
Shani said:
“
Yes
,
she does. It
’
s your turn to speak with your friend...alone if you need to.
”
She emphasized the last few words.

“
Hey
. It’s
all good
,”
Erica said to Kyle and then turned to me
,
her eyes filled with concern. Maybe I should try wave boarding at bad times of the day more often
,
just without the almost drowning part next time. I
’
ll leave off
the
piece
where I swallowed the salt water
, too
.

Erica bent over and kissed my forehead
,
her velvety soft lips lingering just long enough to make me feel a stir
.
I
had to admit
I was a little disappointed because there was no
current
like what I experienced with the
Walker
. Even with the pain waving through me
,
my body still reacted in ways that made me very glad to have the covers wrapped around me.

“
I
’
ll be back soon
,”
she said
,
stroking my hair. I could feel Kyle
’
s grin before I even saw it.

On the way out the door
,
Erica gave Shani a piss-off look that she
perfected back in the
ninth
grade
. She might be different around me
,
but the way she looked at Shani made me remember who I was dealing with.

Kyle sat down and showered me with questions. I didn
’
t get the chance to answer
the first
one
before he moved on to the next
subject.
He kept making this nervous laugh in between each demand
,
things my best friend always did when something had upset him like me almost drowning
,
for example.

“
What gives
here
,
bro? Why would you try to surf alone?
”
Kyle asked as
he
leaned over on the bed
.

“
I needed to clear my head
,”
I answered.

“
Good deal. I hope you
erased
all thoughts of having a relationship with the pink lady out of your head
,”
Shani blurted.
I almost forgot she was in the room.

“
Shani
,
please
,”
Kyle began.
“
We got this
,
all right?
”

“
Uh-huh
,
yeah
,
I bet he does get it now. It only took a broken arm and being in a coma to make him understand. Erica is into Thorne
,
Caleb. She
’
s using you
,”
Shani announced
,
her voice filled with passion.

Kyle
’
s smile faded. He snapped his head around and gave his girlfriend a look that was just short of a glare. Shani blinked
,
lowered her head
,
and glanced toward the window. Even I would
’
ve cringed under
his
s
tare. The only time my best friend ever looked that way was when either somebody died or hurt his feelings. Something went down between them over the summer
,
and neither one of my two closest friends wanted to fill me in on the details.

A couple
more people were now added to my list of the ones who hide things from me.
I had a bad feeling that group of names
was about to get even longer.

Chapter
Six

The
burn in my lungs
lasted
forever.

I probably would
’
ve come out better if I had drunk a glass of lye and got it over with.
Alright
,
that sounded
over
dramatic
,
but you get the point. I didn
’
t know any other way to describe what breathing felt like for me these days. The doctors said it was because I swallowed too much salt water. But I clearly remember the burn starting just before I saw that
weird
light and passed out.

I hadn
’
t
said a word to anyone about that experience
,
not even to the
Walke
r
. My family
,
especially my
dad
who never even came to the hospital
,
would be ready to commit me. They already halfway believed I did it just to get attention
,
to
‘
materialize my anger
’
about the move next January. Right.
What normal person
uses terms like that
,
anyway?
Psychologists
that wanted to take my parent
s’
money
,
that
’
s who.

I was on hospital
lock down
for four days. The
Walker
came every day
,
sat by my bedside
,
and even read some of my favorite poetry to me. Don
’
t even try laughing at me. I can name about four other dudes on the lacrosse team who secretly enjoy reading poetry.

For me
,
Edgar Allan Poe was a genius
, a poetical psychologist
. Listening to his words
flow off
the
Walker’s
ruby red lips put me in a blissful state I never wanted to leave. She had a musical voice
,
the kind that made
Poe’s somewhat dreary works sound like a sunset on the beach.
Since
she came into my life
,
the other
Walker
s
disappeared. I guess
somebody
had
decided this one girl was it for me. I couldn
’
t have
been happier
with the choice.

“
Will you ever tell me your name?
”
I asked
,
anxious to hear the answer. Yeah
,
I know
. T
he desire to know her name was turning into something like an obsession.

    Her face drooped.
“
In my world
,
telling someone your name is like handing over your death certificate to be signed and delivered.
”

“
Right. Are
you
a
fairy? I read somewhere
they can’t
hurt
someone who
calls them by their
real
name.
”

Sighing
,
she smirked and said:
“
Repeat after me. I must not read fairy books written by people who don
’
t know anything about them. Got it?
”

“
You
’
re a fairy
,
then?
”
I asked again.

“
No
,
you
deaf person
,
I
’
m not.
”

“
Then what is your group called? Are you ghosts? Angels? Vampires? What?
”

“
Seriously, Caleb. The idea of drinking blood stinks. Do you see any bird wings growing out of my back? Um, no. I’m not dead.
I swear, if you say that I look like a ghost, then I’ll make you one! Got it?” she asked, tapping her little foot on the floor.

“Yes, ma’am,”
I laughed. She was a ton of fun
,
never a dull moment or
any insecurity
in her body.

“What if I told you I could be all of those things you mentioned?” S
he didn
’
t laugh with me this time.

My grin faded.
“
Don
’
t tell me you
’
re serious? How could you be all of those things? That would make you a paranormal mutant kind of like the X-Men.
”

“
You watch way too much of that Naruto show
,”
she said
,
a grin lighting up her face.

“
What do you expect? You
’
re all secretive about where you come from. You pop up in my living room
whenever you want
,
read my mind, teleport
the way they do on Star Trek
. Like I said
,
you
’
re a mutant.
”
W
hat I really wanted to say was that no normal girl could ever be so
beautiful
,
annoying
,
and
intriguing
all together
.

“
Caleb, just leave it
alone
. I’m more than what you think. If I told you, it could hurt you. Just trust me. I’m doing this for your own saf
e
ty
,”
she said and grinned back at me. Now I was the one who didn
’
t laugh.

“
I have a special poem for you today
,”
she said.

“
Did you get your hands on a Poe original?
”
I asked
,
waiting like a goofy little kid.

“Sorry, it’s not Poe.”

I crossed my arms and smirked. “I’ll have to do some serious thinking on this one,” I teased.

Stepping closer to the bed
,
she sat in the seat across from me. I wanted her to touch me again
,
to help me understand why she invaded my thoughts this way. She was a girl who was a phantom inside of a living dream
,
haunting me like no one else has ever done before. Slowly the vow I made to stay single until the next lifetime
was beginning t
o dissolve.

“
Do you want to hear it
,
or what? I wrote it myself
,”
she said.

I shut up at once. One thing for sure
,
I looked forward to her appearances
, longing for them
.
A
nd when she returned my symptoms eased up a t
ad
. I didn
’
t understand what was happening
,
but it felt right.
The
differences between us didn
’
t matter
. Well,
not to me.

Sighing deeply
,
she began reading her poem:

‘
I dream of a face from a time long ago.

The one who
haunts my dreams
,

He surrounds me with a slumbering kiss
.

And when I awaken
I’m empty
.

If I lie still
,
my tears carry me away in a river of grief.

I hope
the waters take me to him
,
my path to relief.

I want
so desperately
to be free of loneliness
’ game
.

But if I leave
,
the others will never be the same.

Making a choice is like finding a pot of gold
,

Doing the right thing with it will bring you peace.

And the wrong thing can rip away your soul.

“
It
’
s a bit rough around the edges
,
right?
”

“
Wow
,”
I muttered.
“
No
,
no. It
’
s perfect.
”

I didn
’
t know what to say. If I said
anything else I would probably
freak her out
with my heavy breathing. Nah. I had the feeling this girl didn
’
t
scare
easily. We stared at each other until my eyes dried out. She hid a little message in that poem.

What was it? I wanted to know. I had to know.

“
Tell me your name
,”
I whispered.

“
If I do
,
then we both will suffer
,”
she said quietly. I moved my hand toward hers. I made the first move for a change.

“
I
’
ll protect you this time. I promise.
”
I meant every word
,
too.

Leaning toward me
,
she moved her face down until it was within inches of mine. The room sizzled. It wasn
’
t the medicine in my IV doing it
,
either. She hesitated one more agonizing moment
,
before she said
,
“
My name is—
”

The doorknob rattled.
Someone barged into
the room.
I glanced
over
at them.
Erica
shuffled
through the door
,
her arms filled with textbooks and Butterfingers
,
my favorite candy.
I turned
my head
to the side
. Of course the
Walker
was gone
,
taking part of my joy with her.

“
It took me forever to get through those Wal-Mart lines. Everybody and their grandmother
were
buying Halloween candy. It
’
s not even October yet
,”
Erica said and unloaded her things on the chair beside my bed.

When the
Walker
wasn
’
t whispering sweet
poetical
nothings in my ear
,
then Erica was
there
with my assignments. She arrived no later than 3p.m.
She even missed cheerleading practice a few times. Although she was trying harder than ever to make up for her behavior
,
the smidge of trust that I had developed for her
was damaged
.

Kyle
teased me every day. I didn
’
t get a break from his jokes about me doing myself in just so I could get closer to Erica. He said the word had spread around the school like
head lice.
That probably wasn
’
t a good thing. Even though Erica had sworn she and Thorne were really over this time
,
apparently her hot headed ex-boyfriend didn
’
t think so.

Boxing season was right around the corner
,
too. That meant our boy Thorne trained every day. Now I
’
d be dealing with a ticked
off jock
raging on
testosterone. That part of school I could wait to get back to.

* * *

On Monday morning
,
I returned to class
,
my left arm still wrapped in the cast. Kyle was all gaga
because
of the new girl everybody kept talking about. She was a pro skateboarder named Gia Jones who enrolled at our school.