Evanescent (9 page)

“Like I said”—I climb over her—“I’ll take
the floor.”

Wesley

Tuesday, while the skies turn an ashen sage
and the hillsides glow neon from the deluge of rain, I walk Laken
to her final class of the day, cheer.

“Do I wear anything special tomorrow night?”
Her eyes glow against the sodden backdrop. The Minotaur hovers
behind her with his overexposed bonze eminence and makes Laken look
like a Greek goddess from long ago. I could be the warrior who’s
trying to free her from captivity—the stronghold of her mind.

I brush my thumb against the high ridge of
her cheek. She’s so perfect it doesn’t seem believable. Every
person has a flaw to call their own, some more discernable than
others, but Laken remains unblemished—the perfect canvas, the
landscape of Eden.

“You’re amazingly handsome.” She winces when
she says it.

I give a little laugh. “I was thinking the
same thing about you. God’s a true artist. You’re living proof.” I
kiss her hand. “And, about the ceremony, wear whatever you want.
They’ll give you a robe when you get there. It’s already been
sanctified, so you can enter the chamber. Jen knows the way. I’ll
have her bring you. I need to be there early to help set up.”

“But I want to go with you. I can help set
up. I promise I won’t get in the way. I’d much rather be with you
than Jen.” She interlaces our fingers and gives a squeeze.

I glance past her as the fog rolls onto the
field. Some of the cheerleaders have already straggled out and are
warming up. In the distance I can see the football players,
Flanders looks away just as our eyes meet. Figures. I’m sure he
likes to keep an extra eye on Laken at all times. I talked to
Hattie—heard he didn’t score. Not that it surprises me.

Laken’s eyes widen as if she’s just
remembered something.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.” She glances onto the
field and lowers her gaze. “So, after the ceremony, we’ll be closer
than ever. I mean, I’ll be in all the same clubs that you are,
right? I want to do everything with you, unless that freaks you
out.” A nervous smile twitches on her lips.

“Of course, I want that. You couldn’t freak
me out if you tried.” The Tenebrous Woods flash through my
mind—those dark, twisted tree limbs that are set to decapitate if
you take the wrong turn, the screams—those horrible, deafening
screams. I mentioned it once to Edinger. He said they were looking
into severing the vocal cords of repeat offenders, but I think the
silence would be worse. Just knowing they wanted to cry out and
couldn’t, would be far more heartbreaking.

Laken’s eyes tear up, and she gives a hard
sniffle.

“You okay?” I wrap my arms around her and
brush a tender kiss over her cheek.

“I think I might be catching a cold, either
that or allergies.” She shakes her head. “So you never answered the
question. Am I all caught up on your extra curricular activities?”
She looks crestfallen as if she already knows the answer long
before I give it.

“Yes.” I push out a little smile. “Sort of.
There might be one more thing, but it’s a surprise.” God, I’d love
to bond with Laken that way. Bring her to the woods and teach her
how to take blood—to take the
powers
that are rightfully
ours to begin with. Although, I wouldn’t be so anxious to watch her
suck off some guys neck, and I doubt she’d be thrilled to watch me
guzzle down on Skyla, the Celestra that picked me out of a crowd to
personally drain her. She’s pretty, but she’s no Laken. And somehow
I don’t think Laken would approve of me touching my lips to some
hot Celestra even if it were completely platonic—even if my only
thought while doing so was of Laken the entire time. Who knows? She
might classify it as cheating.

Laken flushes a bright pink over the apples
of her cheeks. “I’d better go.” She tries to pull away, but I reel
her in and dot her lips with a kiss.

“I love you—you know that?”

She looks up at me a very long time. Her
brows knit as she inspects my features as if searching for
clues.

“I love you, too, Wes.” Laken wraps her arms
around me and heaves a ragged breath. “Everything I do is because I
love you.”

I pull back and dig in a smile.

“The Treasure ceremony is going to be
special,” I assure her.

“Okay.” She winks. “It’d better be.” She
blows me a kiss and takes off in the direction of the gym, her hair
bounces from behind with a rhythm all its own.

Tomorrow night is going to be far more
special than she could ever imagine.

Flanders catches my eye in the distance and
nods.

A dull laugh rattles from my chest. Flanders
wishes he could have Laken the way I do.

And after tomorrow night, Laken just might
be mine forever.

After practice, once the team clears the
pool, I decide to hang out and swim a few laps, solo. The cavernous
room holds the thick scent of chlorine. The windows that line the
back expose the deep welt of evening.

Laken runs through my mind, the thought of
her accepting the proposal I’m going to offer tomorrow night
incites a rush of adrenaline through me. I can picture the two of
us together in the Tenebrous Woods or, as the less informed like to
call it, the tunnels. If I knew she wouldn’t judge me—hate me, if I
knew she wouldn’t be appalled by what goes on down there and
why—I’d take her today. We would drink our fill and become the
beings we were always meant to be. In my mind’s eye the fantasy
takes a U-Turn and I imagine the two of us locked in a heated kiss,
Laken stripping to nothing right there in those gnarled woods.

The steady beat of footsteps snap me back to
reality. I glance up and catch Demetri Edinger breezing in like he
owns the place—like he owns me.

Supervising spirit. More like a rotten
demon. My own personal bitch.

He’s the part I’m not looking forward to—the
part where I reintroduce Laken to the bastard who shuttles me
around the nethersphere—the demonic leash to which I’m bound and
gagged because my mother gifted him to me a few years back on my
birthday. Although, I may not have to let Laken know about him—in
fact I’d rather not.

I dive under and swim in his direction. No
use in putting off the inevitable.

Edinger crouches low as I pop up by the edge
and he clasps onto me by the hair, submerging me under just as I
take a breath.

I try to free myself from his murderous
charge, but he’s holding me steady just below the waterline.

Shit!

I expel a breath as a cough begs to bubble
from my throat. My nose burns with fire as I inhale water like
oxygen.

Fucking bastard. I latch onto his arm and
yank him in. He cycles over me, and I buoy to the surface, gasping
and coughing.

Edinger floats to the top with his wool coat
rising up around him like a pair of giant wings.

“You
fucking
asshole.” I charge at
him, securing him by the collar and thrashing him against the edge
of the pool. His head gives a satisfying thump, so I arrange for it
to happen again.

“Excited are we?” His eyes glow an unnatural
shade of yellow. He holds his hand out, and I suction over to him
like a magnet without even trying. He raises his palm as if casting
a spell, and my body lifts right out of the water. I’m pulled
upward above the swimming pool a good twenty feet, and my stomach
bottoms out because I know what’s coming.

Gravity takes over, and I set in on the
world’s crappiest belly flop. The water slaps against my chest like
fire, and I hit clear to the bottom of the pool before rising to
the surface.

I glance around for the bastard who
sponsored this bellyache. He’s still in the water with a
shit-eating grin cemented to his face.

I dive in his direction, stealth like a
seal. From underwater, his body looks unnaturally elongated as if
his feet were touching the floor while his head stays safely above
water. This doesn’t surprise me. A Fem can do whatever the hell it
wants, and God knows Demetri Edinger has done exactly that, time
and time again.

“What’s the matter, Wesley?” He taunts as I
surface beside him. His dark eyes gleam a wicked smile all their
own. It’s nice to know he’s enjoying the shit out of himself.
“Feeling a little battered and blue? From what I can see, this has
less to do with your physical state and more to do with a matter of
the heart.”

“What the hell do you want?” I spit just shy
of his face.

“Lets cut to the chase. What is it that
you
want?”

“Laken,” I pant. “I always want Laken,
that’s why you brought her to Ephemeral, isn’t it? Gifting her to
me with a bow? You got her kicked out of Rycroft didn’t you?”

“Indeed, I’m the sole reason she was kicked
out from
somewhere
.” He buries a smile into the side of his
cheek.

“I’m bringing her tomorrow night.” I wipe
the water from my eyes. “I’m going to ask her to bond with me.”

“A lifetime commitment at such a young age?
Don’t be foolish. You haven’t had the chance to consider your
options. So many pretty girls to choose from. Skyla, for instance,
is a real catch. Rumor has it you’re just her type.” He lowers his
chin as if he’s baiting me. “If I had to guess, I’d say you were
made for one another.”

I tick my head back. “She’d snatch my balls
off if I tried to put a move on her. Besides, I’ve only got one
girl in mind and that’s Laken.”

“I see,” he muses. “And does she only have
eyes for you?”

He’s mocking me. He knows something, and
there’s no way in hell I’m going to ask what.

“She loves me. I’m sure of it.”

He shakes his head, slow and sober. “She may
have loved you, she may have had a pure love for you once in
different place, but circumstances have changed. People change.
You’ll never win her back.”

My blood courses through my veins, heavy and
toxic as concrete. It takes everything in me not to strangle
him.

“I’m bringing her to the woods,” I assert.
He can shove it up his ass if he doesn’t like it.

“You’re a fool. There’s another girl for
you, Wesley—it’s not Laken. I promise you this. Things will not end
well if you refuse to heed my warning.” His eyes squint out a false
smile. He’s reveling in my misery—tossing Flanders in my face so
subtly he thinks I haven’t noticed.

I lunge at him and grab onto his ears with
both hands. I thrash his head over the edge of the pool with the
zeal of a cage fighter. Blood trickles down his temple as a smooth
line of crimson escapes his nose. Demetri rumbles out a dull laugh
before disintegrating right between my fingers.

He never dies.

He always wins.

Worst of all, he’s always right.

I dip down under the water.

He won’t be right this time. Laken and I
will be together in the end even if I have to deal with Flanders
myself.

As if the day weren’t running on crap fumes
already, I see Jones’s ugly mug staring back at me from my
phone.

Shit. The last person I want to speak to is
Laken’s overprotective uncle.

I pick up as I head into Henderson. All I
really want is to get in the shower and hit the sheets—forget about
the nightmare that happened earlier at the pool.

“Yo,” I say, less than enthused to be
chatting it up with Jones. Way to end this mindfuck of a day. Maybe
I should call Laken after and see if she wants to hang out. She can
kiss all of my emotional boo-boos and make me feel better. Just
being with Laken—thinking of Laken, makes me feel better.

“Rumor has it the Spectators are joining
forces.” He quips into my ear while over annunciating his P’s and
C’s. “Rival clans are banding together. We could have a real
problem if you don’t act. Do you have your boy on it?”

“Not yet.” I don’t fill him in on the fact
I’m not too fond of
my boy
at the moment—that he might be
trying to steal
my girl
. “I might take this one up on my
own.”