Destiny (Vanish Book Four) (11 page)

“Are you alright?” I asked.

“Yeah, are you? What happened?”

“Yeah. I killed him,” I sighed.

“Are you feeling better?” he asked, looking
almost uncomfortable.

“Yeah, I need to get rid of the body
though.”

“I’ll help you get him to the car, but I
don’t know where to go from there.”

“We’ll take him into the woods by the
neighborhood,” I said.

We backed the car up into the alley, just a
little ways, then went to get the man. He was heavy, but we had no
problem getting him into the trunk.

We drove home. Skylar still seemed upset
about something. He drove down the street to the neighborhood and
asked me where he should go. It was pretty private near the hole in
the fence, so I figured it would be better to go there.

He stopped the car, and we went to the trunk.
He grabbed his arms, I grabbed his feet, and we climbed the small
hill up to the fence.

Once we were through, we started heading back
toward the cabin. Then, we left the path and walked deeper into the
woods. There was a patch of bushes and next to it, I imagined a
hole. I pushed him into the hole, and imagined bushes covering over
it.

We walked a few feet away and then sat down
to rest, mostly for Skylar’s benefit. His eyes looked blank, his
face pale. He looked miserable.

“Let’s just get back. I want to change and
take a shower. We can talk after, okay?”

“Alright,” I agreed.

We got up and walked to the fence, and once
we were out, we jumped in the car and drove to my house. Skylar
walked down the street back to George and Elizabeth’s house.

I walked in the door and ran up the stairs to
go change my bloody clothes and take a shower. Once I was dressed,
I went outside to wait for Skylar. There was something going on,
and I needed to know what. As I was walking out the door, I saw him
coming. We decided to go sit on the beach.

We got to the beach and sat down. Skylar was
twiddling his thumbs and not making eye contact. I sat there
impatiently, waiting for him to tell me what he had to say.

Finally, he turned toward me and grabbed my
hands. We sat there cross-legged holding each other’s hands and
stared into one another’s eyes. His were filled with pain. He
looked like all of his dreams had just been crushed, but there was
a glimmer of hope there as well.

“What I wanted to tell you—” he broke off and
gulped. “I have a way out; I have a way that everything can work
out—for
everyone
.”

“That’s great,” I exclaimed, even though I
could tell he was holding something back. “So what is it?”

“I think it’s best if I don’t tell you
exactly what it is, I know you won’t like it.”

“Why?”

“I’m working everything out right now. Dante
is okay with it, and he’s coming back in the next day or two.”

“He’s coming back?” I said with a little too
much excitement.

“Yes, will you do something for me?” The
desperation in his voice was evident.

“Of course, anything,” I promised.

“Go on a date with me, before it’s too
late.”

“…Too late?”

“Yeah I—I mean Dante’s coming back so…”

“Yes, I will.”

“I’ll come get you tomorrow around noon,
okay?”

“Sounds good,” I smiled.

“Great,” he said as he got up.

“Wait, where are you going?”

“This needs to be perfect; I don’t even know
where we’ll go yet.”

“Don’t worry about it Skylar,” I assured him.
I could tell he was going to take this way too far.

“Don’t worry about it? Tomorrow could be my
last day–”

“Your last day…your last day for what?”

“My last day to spend with you, I mean,
really spend with you… like I said Dante’s coming back so….”

I couldn’t ignore the nervous tone his voice
took on. I got up so my eyes could meet his. He turned away; it had
to be more than he was letting on.

“You’re keeping something from me; I know it.
You can tell me.”

“I can’t. I can’t tell you anything, well,
besides one thing. There is something that I need, and there’s a
chance that you may have it.”

“Well, what is it?”

“A potion, it should be a bright pink
color.”

I remembered back to the night at the movies,
the night when that mysterious woman came up to talk to me, then
vanished. She left something behind—a bright pink potion. What did
she say to me? Something about someone new coming into my life, I
couldn’t remember the rest. It felt like a heavy fog was tearing
through the memory, sweeping it up and taking it away from me.

“What’s it used for?” I wondered.

“I’m not certain, but I think it has a few
uses, some more helpful than others.”

“I have it, but I’m scared of what you’re
hiding from me.”

“Don’t be afraid, everything is going to be
alright for you; I’ll make sure of it.”

He walked away without another word. If I had
any idea whatsoever about what was going to happen, I knew that I
would be thinking the worst. This was almost worse; I had no idea,
none. Whatever was going to happen, I wouldn’t know until it was
happening, and there would be nothing that I could do about it.

I stayed in that spot for at least another
hour. When the sun started to go down, I headed inside. I went up
to my room and sat at my desk. I stared at the phone in front of
me, wanting to call Dante. I needed to hear his voice, to see if he
would tell me what was going on, assuming he knew everything. I
picked up the phone, and dialed the number, when it started ringing
I felt my heart stop.

“Hello?” His voice, it was so calming, and
yet my heart was beating erratically.

“Hi, it’s me,” I mumbled.

“Scarlett? What’s wrong?”

“Skylar says he has a plan, would you know
anything about this?”

“He hasn’t given me all of the details yet,
but yes.”

“What has he told you?” I asked.

“Well, he couldn’t stress enough that I
shouldn’t tell you.”

“Why? I don’t understand why I need to be
kept out of this.”

“I don’t know. He hasn’t told me that much
either,” Dante sighed.

“But you trust him?” I asked.

“Yes, I think I do.”

“He said you were coming home,” I
mumbled.

“I am. I’m just not sure when I’ll get
there.”

“I’m going on a date with Skylar tomorrow—” I
blurted. He was silent, I couldn’t explain why I said yes to
Skylar, that part inside of me that wanted to be next to him had
been drowned out by my desire to be with Dante. “He said it could
be his last day to spend with me or something.”

“Have your feelings changed?” he asked. His
voice was low, barely a whisper.

“About you? Never.”

“I’ll see you soon,” he said. “I love
you.”

“I love you, too.”

Then he was gone, leaving me here, holding
onto the phone, hoping for a miracle when I’d never even been able
to catch a break. I closed my eyes and wondered what magical thing
would solve my problems. What magical thing would bring me and
Dante back together? I needed to believe it was possible. I grabbed
the book with the picture of me and Skylar and searched for the
page.

When I found it, I looked underneath the
picture. On every other page, there were words, explanations. Still
nothing. I closed my eyes and wished that it would tell me. When I
opened them, the orangey-red ink was moving across the page.

All of the other people had noble destinies,
a reason for their sacrifice. Maybe the rest of them didn’t even
have to sacrifice, which was fine.

When I saw the reason—when I saw the only
thing that made Skylar and I have this bond—I was furious.

“Two people came together, one of which was
good and the other evil. Their first-born child will pay for their
mistakes. Their heart will belong to two different people, and the
one they really want, they will never truly have.”

I dug under my bed and found the box of
potions. The glass vials clanked together as I looked through them,
and finally, I found the bright pink potion. I stared at it,
wondering if this was the key, or just another piece to the puzzle.
I clutched my hand around it and closed my eyes. I pleaded for some
kind of answer, anything to tell me that things would work out.

Within a matter of seconds, I was transported
to somewhere I had never been. There was a woman, she was putting
ingredients into a pot, and she hummed as she stirred. The vision
flashed forward, and the same woman stood in a beautiful meadow.
She stood there, waiting with a vial of pink liquid. Then, a man
appeared through the trees, on the other side of the meadow.

He walked toward her, keeping his eyes on her
at all times. The way they looked at each other made it
obvious—they were in love.

As they moved closer together, my vision
followed, giving me a better look at the meadow—and the man tied
up, hidden beneath the long grass.

“Are you sure?” The man finally spoke.

“Anything to be with you,” she sighed.

She knelt down next to the man and took the
tape off of his mouth. The way he looked at her was almost a
mirrored image of the other man’s affection, and almost the same
look was on her face.

She bent down further, whispered something in
his ear, and then she brought her lips to his. He wriggled around
trying to get free, a desperate plea almost escaping his lips.
Then, he laid still. She took the cork out of the vial, and a big
puff of pink smoke escaped in the shape of a heart. Then, a line of
smoke made its way to each of them. As she brought the vial to his
lips, he didn’t fight it, he didn’t push her away, he simply opened
his mouth and let her pour the liquid down.

As fast as the vision came on, it was gone.
Leaving me only with more questions, what happened next? Which of
the men in this situation was Dante and which Skylar? Were they in
the same predicament; was this how they escaped their fate?

The questions kept coming all throughout the
night, and when the sun started to rise I felt more nervous than
ever. I still had no clue about what was to take place, but I had a
horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach, that today would be the
day.

I sat next to the window, not moving. I
stared out at the lake, watching all the waves, and the sun
sparkling like diamonds across the surface. The sun rose higher
into the sky; I’d lost track of time. Staring out at the beauty in
front of me, I’d been dreaming of a life without all of this
confusion, without all of these boundaries, without the fear.

The doorbell rang, and I realized I hadn’t
gotten ready. I threw on some clothes, trying my best to look nice.
I paired a red shirt that was tight down to my waist and pleated
from there down, with some black pants. I brushed my hair and ran
down the stairs.

I wondered where Violet and Rose were, the
house was quiet, and come to think of it, I didn’t see them last
night either. I shook my head; they probably went to sleep
early.

I opened the door, the first thing I
noticed—he was wearing a suit. Not too long after I noticed that, I
realized something else. Instead of the dirty blonde hair that I
was used to seeing on Skylar, it was a dark brown.

“You dyed your hair?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said, almost embarrassed. “Do you
like it?”

“It’s almost the exact shade—”

“I know,” he mumbled, sounding almost
sad.

“So where are we going?”

“There’s a fair a few miles out of Sunny
Bay,” he replied.

“You’re dressed like that for a fair?”

“No, this is for afterwards. The fair is just
something to do while our
real
date is being set up.”

“Who’s setting it up?” I asked.

“Elizabeth, George, Cooper and Lily,” he
answered.

“How did you convince them to do that?” I
wondered.

“Well, they’re very nice people, but I also
let George and Elizabeth in on my plan.”

“You told them everything?”

“Yes, I needed to tell someone the whole
plan. I needed to know for sure that I wasn’t making a
mistake.”

“But you still won’t tell me?”

“No, it would be too hard on you Scarlett.
I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” I sighed. Not knowing would
probably be better anyway.

“Are you ready to go?” he asked.

“Yeah—” Something caught my eye, moving
through the trees. Dark-brown hair, black shirt and jeans, I could
have been wrong, but I swore it was Dante. “I’ll be right
back.”

I walked toward him almost in a trance. I
waited until I was far enough away from Skylar, then, I called his
name. He didn’t seem to hear me. I hadn’t walked this far through
these parts of the woods. I had always assumed the fence continued,
and it would be pointless, but there was no fence.

I picked up my pace. I knew exactly the
direction he was heading, and if he made it there—I couldn’t even
think of what would happen. Even though I was walking twice as
fast, I couldn’t catch up. I started running, but still, he was
faster. I knew we were getting close, but I wouldn’t stop. I
wouldn’t let him get killed.

The leaves all blended together, everything
was a blur. I was running as fast as I could. Before I knew what
was going on, someone had grabbed me by the shoulders, and then
within seconds, their arm was around my neck. I looked in front of
me; Dante stood there facing me. Then, he just disappeared—not in
his usual way, there were no blue and green swirls; he was just
gone.

“So nice of you to come back and visit,” the
man behind me said. It was my father.

All around me the trees and shade melted away
into a beautiful meadow. It was the meadow where Dante and I spent
our one-year anniversary. The next thing I knew, the meadow was on
fire. Then as quickly as everything changed, it was back to the way
it looked before.