Pawn (Nightmares Trilogy #1) (19 page)

I left the dishes in the sink for Mom
and made a mad dash for my bedroom. A mountain of schoolwork still
waited to be finished, and I figured that would be a good
distraction since shopping hadn’t worked.

I had yet to check my cell phone.
Gingerly, I perched it on the edge of my desk and engaged the
device in a staring contest. The phone won. Eight missed calls: six
from Jamieson’s landline, one from Mandy, and one from Kannon.
Surprisingly, only one voice mail.

The solitary message turned out to be
from Mandy. She wanted to talk about the party in the Vines, and
asked if I would drive her to school the next morning. I felt
horrible, but I had no desire to talk to her. Instead, I simply
texted Mandy to inform her that I would gladly collect her at 7:00
a.m.

There was no way I was calling
Jamieson back. I didn’t have the energy to trade verbal insults
with my former best friend. Kannon, though, was different. He and I
needed to talk. My finger was poised over the send button, with
Kannon’s number highlighted on my screen, when suddenly the phone
vibrated in my hand. It was him. Did dying give you ESP?

I took a deep breath.

“Hey,” I breathed into the
mouthpiece.

“Endora, finally. I thought maybe
you’d changed your mind about wanting to talk.”

“Yeah, sorry. I spent the day shopping
with Devon and Elizabeth,” I babbled like he knew who they
were.

“I didn’t mean to freak you out last
night.” Straight to the point. That was probably for the best - no
reason to drag this out longer than necessary.

“You didn’t. Well, you did. But I
overreacted. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. It’s just that
Jamieson and I have history, and pretending to sympathize with me
is something she would do,” I rambled nervously.

“I am not into petty games,” Kannon
said seriously. “I’m too old for that.”

“She started it,” I replied, because
that made me sound mature. Inhaling deeply to regroup, I continued,
“I’m sorry. I get it now. This has nothing to do with her. I do
want to talk about the whole…dying thing.”

“What are you doing right now? Can I
come over? Or maybe we could meet somewhere?” Kannon sounded
desperate, like there was more riding on the conversation than two
people commiserating over a near-death experience.

I didn’t respond. I wanted to see
Kannon. And not just because he was the first person I’d met like
me. I genuinely wanted to spend time with him, which was absurd
since I barely knew him. Devon was right; I was channeling
Elizabeth and her silly soul mate notion.

“Endora? You still there?” Kannon
asked.

“Yeah, I’m here,” I hurriedly replied.
“I don’t know about tonight. My mom is home, and I doubt she’ll let
me go out right now. How about tomorrow? I have practice until
five, but maybe we could meet at seven?”

“I can do that. Where?”

“The Moonlight Diner. It’s on the
county line between Westwood and Baltimore.” The words were out
before I’d given them much thought. Why had I picked the Moonlight
Diner of all places? Two birds, one stone. Henry Haverty said my
father was a regular. Maybe he’d be there. At the very least, I
could quiz Mr. Haverty on my father’s habits.

“I’ll be there,” Kannon promised.
“Dream well, Endora Lee.”

Dream well. Those were the same words
he’d said to me at Elizabeth’s party. A simple goodnight would have
sufficed. Then again, when your dreams have a tendency to come
true, having pleasant ones was preferable.

“You too,” I said softly.

Homework forgotten, I crawled into
bed. It was still fairly early, 9:15pm according to my phone, but I
was exhausted. I wanted nothing more than to sleep. I closed my
eyes. In no time I succumbed to the exhaustion.

Chapter Eleven

Balloons and streamers in
Carolina blue and white hung from the ceiling. My classmates were
dressed to the nines, the girls wearing beautiful long gowns and
the boys looking uncomfortable in rented tuxedos. Cooper Byrd had
removed his bow tie, and now had it wrapped around his forehead
like Rambo. His cheeks were bright red, flushed from the rum he had
hidden in a flask in his pants pocket. Elizabeth stood beside him,
one strap of her red dress falling down her shoulder.

The Grand Ballroom at Turf
Valley Country Club was warm, but goosebumps peppered my bare arms.
I pulled the shawl resting on my shoulders tighter to ward off the
chill.

“Have I told you how
amazing you look?” His breath tickled my neck as he spoke in my
ear. His lips were so close they brushed my skin, causing a pop of
electricity to accompany his greeting.

I smiled, turning my face
so our lips would meet. The kiss was soft and light, barely more
than a peck, but his touch made every inch of my body tingle.
Kannon often joked that he wasn’t sure whether I was attracted to
him or addicted to the electricity that made all my synapses
fire.

“You look pretty good
yourself,” I told him, straightening the red rose fastened to his
lapel. “Have you seen Devon? I think they are about to announce
prom king and queen.”

Kannon averted his eyes,
seemingly interested in couples dancing to some Bieber song the DJ
had put on. He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and
down.

“What’s going on?” I
demanded.

“It’s nothing,” Kannon
replied, but he still wouldn’t look at me. “I saw her sneaking off
with that kid she came with. They looked pretty, um,
close.”

I laughed, relaxing at his
benign answer. He was embarrassed to tell me that he’d seen my best
friend sneaking away from prom to get busy with her date. If he
thought he was telling me something surprising or somehow betraying
Devon, he needn’t have worried. The first thing she would do after
she finished her eighth grade make-out session was come find me and
fill me in on the details.

“Let’s take a walk,”
Kannon suggested, turning pleading green eyes on me. “I really need
some fresh air.”

There was something
indecipherable in his expression, and the urgency in his words made
no sense. Sure, the ballroom was stuffy and I didn’t feel much like
dancing, but I wasn’t exactly desperate to escape my prom. A shiver
ran up my spine. The uneasy feeling that Kannon’s presence
sometimes still gave me made my stomach drop.

“I’d rather stay here.
Like I said, they are about to announce king and queen.”

“Eel, please,” he begged.
“I really want to get out of here for a couple of minutes.” Kannon
grabbed my hand without waiting for my response. He began dragging
me through the sea of dancers, towards the glass doors leading to a
patio.

While skin-to-skin contact
always created a spark, the electricity coursing through my arm was
stronger than normal. My fingers burned, my bicep quivered, and
loose strands of my hair danced before my eyes like live
wires.

“Kannon, you’re hurting
me!” I protested.

I tried to pull my hand
free, but it proved impossible. If anything, my fingers curled
tighter around his. Kannon said nothing. He simply picked up his
pace, shoving people out of our way.

“What’s going on?” I
demanded, fear causing my voice to waver.

Kannon turned, mouth set
in a grim line. His lips moved, but his words were drowned out by a
loud, repetitive beeping noise – the fire alarm.

“Everyone remain calm and
move towards the nearest exit,” Principal Beam said over the DJ’s
microphone.

“Devon,” I
whispered.

Somehow over the cacophony
of alarms and my classmates’ frightened murmuring, Kannon heard me
say her name. He shook his head, chestnut waves bouncing off his
forehead. The electrical impulses running through my body
intensified, causing my knees to go weak. Kannon wrapped an arm
around my waist, and half-dragged, half-carried me the rest of the
way through the ballroom.

A steady, rhythmic beeping woke me
from the nightmare. Disoriented, I shot up in bed, expecting to be
surrounded by smoke and flames. My heart raced a mile a minute, and
cold sweat bathed my face and neck. The first rays of morning light
illuminated the curtains hanging over the window, casting an eerie
bluish glow across the room. The awareness that I was alone in my
own bedroom caused me to relax.

“Just a dream,” I mumbled, even
managing a small laugh at the visceral reaction to an imagined
scene.

My legs shook slightly with the
aftermath of adrenaline as I swung them over the side of the
mattress and reached for the off button on the alarm clock. Monday
morning, my least favorite day of the week.

I padded to the bathroom adjoined to
the bedroom and began my daily routine on autopilot. The cold water
washed away the feeling of impending doom and woke my sluggish
brain. By the time I sat in front of my vanity, hair dripping water
down my back, I felt silly for having reacted like a child being
chased by the boogeyman.

At 6:55 a.m. I pulled the Bug to a
stop in front of Mandy’s rural home. She must have been watching
for me, because the front door flew open the instant I pulled the
parking brake. Mandy called goodbye to her parents as she bounded
down the steps.

“Morning,” I told her with a smile,
once she was securely in the passenger seat.

“Thanks for the ride,” she replied. “I
know it’s a pain to go so far out of your way first thing in the
morning.”

Mandy’s house was certainly
out of the way, but knowing firsthand what it was like to be
carless
, I didn’t
mind.

On the
thirty-minute
ride to Westwood High,
Mandy entertained me with the events of her weekend. Like Elizabeth
had intimated,
Mandy had met a boy
from St. Paul’s and he’d even called her just to
talk Sunday afternoon. She was giddy at the prospect of going on a
real date with the boy, Matthew Horcowitz. I envied her a little.
Meeting Kannon at a diner to discuss our death experiences and
subsequent electrical problems was a far cry from a romantic dinner
followed by a make-out session in the back row of a movie
theater.

I promised my friend that we could go
shopping before the big day, since Mandy claimed she had nothing to
wear. Since I’m considerably taller and leaner, I had nothing in my
closet to offer.

The main lobby of Westwood
High served as the social epicenter for
its students.
Everyone from
newly minted freshmen to the seasoned
seniors
congregated there before the first
bell to catch up on the latest gossip.

The instant Mandy and I entered the
sea of students, a wave of vertigo washed over me. My knees felt
weak and I reached for Mandy to steady myself. Devon’s face flashed
through my mind.

“Thanks for returning my
calls,”
her voice sounded in my
mind.

“Sorry, went to bed
early,”
I heard myself reply.

Just as fast as the dizzying sensation
had come, it was gone.

“Eel, you okay?” asked Mandy, stopping
abruptly and grabbing hold of my shoulder.

“Tripped over my own feet,” I mumbled,
mustering an embarrassed laugh.

I spied Devon standing with a group of
girls from the lacrosse team and led Mandy in her direction. Devon
turned the moment I joined her side.

“Thanks for returning my calls,” she
said.

“Sorry, went to bed early,” I mumbled
automatically. Hadn’t this just happened? I shook my head to clear
the remaining fog.

“You okay?” Devon asked, the flicker
of irritation morphing to concern.

“Why does everyone keep asking that?”
I groaned.

“Because you look like
death warmed over,” Devon said. Then her eyes went wide and her
mouth formed a small “o.” “I didn’t mean that,” she amended. “I
just meant―,”

I didn’t let her finish whatever lame
excuse she was going to make. “It’s fine. I’m fine,” I told her. “I
didn’t sleep well is all.”

Devon smiled, not buying the
lie.

Mandy stood on the
periphery of the group, uncomfortable and out of place as
usual.

I nudged her with my shoulder. “When
do you want to hit up the mall?” I asked.

“Whenever.” She glanced behind me to
where Kevin stood talking to a junior named Bryan Grouper, the two
of them laughing about something that probably wasn’t nearly as
funny as they made it seem.

“Let’s go Thursday, after I’m done
with practice,” I said, trying to draw her focus from Kevin. I’d
hoped that meeting Matthew Horcowitz would erase any lingering
attraction to Rick’s jerky best friend.

“Sure,” Mandy replied, her gaze never
leaving Kevin’s face.

I leaned closer to Mandy so my next
words wouldn’t be overheard. “He’s not worth it,” I mumbled in her
ear.

Just like before, dizziness clouded my
mind and I gripped Mandy’s shoulder to keep upright.