Phoenix: The Rising (24 page)

Eli disappeared through the door, and Lucy gave Julie another tug. “Come on. We don’t want to be late for gym.”

Julie turned to Lucy. “How did you know I had gym this hour?”

Lucy shrugged. “Eli mentioned it when I was signing up for classes. I hope you don’t mind that I requested this section. I wanted to see at least one friendly face in there.”

Lucy glanced over to Julie. “I can’t get over how pretty you are. No wonder Eli’s so smitten with you. Love your hair, by the way. And those green eyes. I am SO jealous!”

Julie looked at Lucy and smiled warily. Was she being sarcastic? The smile on her face seemed sincere. Julie sighed in surrender. This girl was Liana and Simon’s flesh and blood, for God’s sake! “Coming from a warrior princess, I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Warrior princess? You must be our new mascot!”

Kas Penemue seemed to materialize out of nowhere, a
Sherman
tank blocking their progress. The girls came to a halt just short of running into him.

“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your new friend, Julie?” Julie watched Kas’s eyes roam over Lucy, and then over her, settling on her hair. It was the first time he’d seen her since that night. “And I almost didn’t recognize you. What’s with the new hair? Looks like you’re thumbing your nose at those Nephilim. What do you have, a death wish?”

Julie dropped her arm from Lucy’s. “You know I don’t believe all that crap. I just needed a change after what happened to Charsey. You do remember Charsey, don’t you?”

Kas’s eyes bore into hers as his cheeks flamed. “Of course I do. How can I forget when the police are over at my house every few days reminding me?”

Julie could have bitten her own tongue. She had no idea what any of Charsey’s other friends were going through since she had been gone. Plus, she was a little preoccupied with her recovery and trying to figure out the identity of the Nephilim.

“I’m sorry. Old habits die hard. I guess I should make some new ones.” Lucy cleared her throat, reminding Julie that there was a third person standing with them. “Oh, Kas, this is Lucy Temeluch, Eli Sullivan’s cousin. Lucy, Kas Penemue.”

Kas’s eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head. “No shit? So that’s why you’ve been catching a ride on his bike. I thought you two were hooking up.”

Lucy’s face blazed red as she grabbed Julie’s arm and squeezed. “Well, you thought wrong. Eli happens to be my second cousin. His aunt and uncle are my grandparents. They’re the only family I have, not that it’s any of your business.”

Kas’s hands shot up in surrender. “Sorry. I didn’t know. Just trying to be friendly, Lacy.”  He backed away, a half-smile lifting the right corner of his lips, then turned, leaving the two girls standing outside the gym doors.

“Lucy,” Julie called after him dryly. “Her name is Lucy.”

“Good God,” Lucy exclaimed as she leaned against the door, “he’s an annoying one, isn’t he?”

“Annoying, yes, but I don’t think he knows any bet—” Julie’s words were cut short by the last thing she wanted to hear: the tardy bell.
Crap!
She grabbed Lucy by the arm and hauled her down the hallway. “Come on. If you’re hanging out with me, you’ll need to know where to get a tardy slip.”

****

Lucy waited until the end of the day to approach Julie again. She threw her a couple of
hey, girl
’s throughout the day, just to let Julie know that she saw her, but she didn’t want to seem too overbearing and fuck things up this early. Her close encounter with Kas had done almost that. Good thing he played along with her when he found out about her true relationship with Eli. Maybe he wasn’t as dumb as his cousin. Now she needed to concentrate on befriending the Fire-Child. Catching her at her locker was going to be a critical part of her plan, and it looked like the moment was now.

“Knock-knock!” Lucy rapped her knuckles on Julie’s open locker door.

Pale, green eyes peeked around the door’s edge and blinked. “Oh, hi.”

Julie’s less than enthusiastic greeting made Lucy think twice about what she was about to do. She knew she was pressing her luck with this next move, but she couldn’t help herself. Weaving this web was so much fun! Besides, she had a feeling she was running out of time. Winning the trust of the Fire-Child was the one sure way she could be near her when it came time for her to claim her birthright. Lucy pulled the door open the rest of the way so she could get a good view of the inside of the locker as Julie continued stuffing her books into her book bag for the ride home.

“You are so lucky you don’t have a locker mate. Mine is a pig! My bag ends up smelling like dirty gym socks and beef jerky by the end of the day. Here ... smell.” She held her bag up and shoved it towards Julie’s face. Julie didn’t flinch. Lucy looked from Julie’s incredulous stare to the empty locker and back. Her hand flew to her mouth.

“Oh, I am such a freak! Charsey was your locker mate, wasn’t she? I didn’t mean to imply that I wanted to be your partner ... I mean, I did, but it was just a spur of the moment idea. I’m so sorry. Forget I even said anything.” Lucy hiked her backpack onto one shoulder and turned to leave.

“17-29-36.”

Lucy smiled to herself and turned around, plastering a puzzled crinkle into her brow for the desired effect. “What?”

Julie closed the door to her locker and spun the lock. “It’s my locker combination. Air out that bag tonight, and you can move in tomorrow.” Julie smiled and Lucy knew that she’d just completed the hardest part of her plan. The Fire-Child was about to become her best friend.

“Are you sure? I mean I know I could never replace Charsey.”

Julie hoisted her bulging bag onto her shoulder. “Oh, don’t worry about that. Charsey was one of a kind. No one could replace her.”

“Yeah, and so popular. What a waste. Nobody should die that young.” Lucy squeezed out a smile as she thought of Charsey going at it with Dan in the pool house right before he snapped her neck. Dan obviously didn’t mind sloppy seconds, knowing that Charsey had been with Kas less than two hours before he took his turn. Even Remy had gotten in on the act, nailing her two weeks before at a party. At least she kept it all in the family. Unfortunately for her, she chose the wrong family.

Lucy sighed as she saw Eli jogging down the hall towards them, her stomach flipping at the sight of his pecs bulging under his t-shirt with each step. The sight was enough to drive her crazy. Her eyes flashed over to Julie, whose own eyes were busy following every movement of the lithe body springing towards them. She might be the Fire-Child, she might be the current object of Eli Sullivan’s affection, but Lucy had a few advantages over the slight redhead, her main one being that when he went to bed at night,
she
was the one occupying another bed just a few yards away from him. If she had her way, within the next two weeks, the only thing separating them at night would be a few inches of white, cotton sheet.

Eli stopped in front of them. He wasn’t smiling. “We have to go.” He looked from Julie to Lucy. “Liana’s had a heart attack.”

Lucy’s thoughts rewound to the vision of Liana’s hand on her chest and her faltering steps as she left Lucy’s room the night before. Yes, the cruel words she spoke to her were meant to crush her spirit and hurt her as much as she hurt her mother, but she didn’t mean to physically harm her grandmother.
Grandmother
. She’d uttered the word several times in the past two weeks, but this was the first time she ever felt any emotional connection with it. Was this what it felt like to have family?

“Lucy, did you hear what I said?”

Lucy blinked, trying to clear her head. “Yes. Heart attack.”

Julie grabbed Lucy by the elbow and led her down the hall as Eli sprinted away. “You can ride with me. Eli’s going on ahead. We’ll meet him there.”

The trip to the hospital was made in guilty silence. Lucy knew this was her fault. The bitter taste of remorse mingled with the newfound contempt she felt for most of the humans she encountered.
Not another tear
, she reminded herself, but the breeze on her damp cheeks told her otherwise. She still had a thread of humanity left in her, and right now it was tying her in an emotion-filled, gut-wrenching knot.

Julie opened Lucy’s door for her and pulled her from the car. Her feet had to be coaxed into walking.

“She’s going to be all right, Lucy. Liana’s one of the strongest women I’ve ever met.”

“She’s human. Humans die.” Lucy turned her brown eyes to Julie’s pale, green, immortal ones. “You should know that better than anyone.”

Julie stopped in her tracks. “What?”

Shit
. Did she just make a fatal error? Time to cover her tracks.

“You just buried your friend, Julie, and if the rumors are true, it’s because those Nephilim bastards were looking for the Fire-Child. According to Tina, they’ll kill any redheaded, green-eyed human that crosses their path. And now you—”
S
he poked an accusing finger at Julie’s hair. “
Y
ou’ve made yourself a sitting duck for those monsters. You might as well have put a target on your back! I just lost my mother, Julie. I don’t want to lose my grandmother, or my best friend.”

Lucy could see the relief sweep across Julie’s face. Her secret was still safe, or more precisely,
both
their secrets were still safe. This news about her grandmother had thrown her for a loop and almost unraveled the web she had already set. But, everyone knew a spider was a resilient, stubborn creature. Its web might get ripped apart one day, but by the next morning, a new, stronger one would have already taken its place. At any rate, she’d have to be more careful in the future. The human side of her seemed determined to rear its head where and when it pleased. Looked like she’d have to learn how to control it a bit better. If that were even possible.

“You’re too late.” Simon seemed to shrink into himself. “Liana died ten minutes ago.”

This huge, rugged, seemingly invincible man looked like a ghost of himself standing outside the curtain of the ER cubicle that held the body of his precious wife. Julie watched as Eli reached out and drew Simon into his arms. She knew it really was too late. Even if Eli had gotten here sooner, he wouldn’t have been able to do a thing to help her, unless the ER staff cracked her ribs and opened her up, giving him complete access to her heart.

“This is my fault.” A small voice croaked from behind Julie. She turned to see Lucy, forehead against the wall for support, hands covering her face. She placed her hand on Lucy’s back, but Lucy shrugged her away.

“This is no one’s fault.” Simon separated from Eli and approached his granddaughter.

Lucy pushed away from the wall, sniffled, and ran the back of her hand across her tear-stained face. “I upset her last night. She said she wasn’t feeling well.”

“Liana hasn’t felt well for the last few months,” Simon revealed in a whisper. “It was just her time.”

Eli turned to Simon. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t
she
tell me?”

Simon shook his head and smiled sadly. “She wanted it that way. Didn’t want you to worry. Oh, she was concerned about it just being the two of us once she was gone, but now, well, now she knows you won’t be alone.”

Simon’s eyes moved over to his granddaughter.
He’s talking about her.
As if on cue, Lucy slid her arm through Eli’s and rested her head on his shoulder. Julie’s heart fell into her stomach. She would bow out of this gracefully. With the Nephilim on her trail, Eli was safe, and that’s all she really cared about. Besides, the leukemia would probably end up taking her out in the end, even if she was doing great now. Yes, this was best.

“I’ll—I’ll leave you three alone. I’m sure you have plans to make, and I should be getting back to school.” Julie raised her chin and turned to Simon. “I really am sorry about your loss. Liana was an amazing woman.” Doing an about-face, Julie took off down the hall before Simon, or anyone else, could respond. She felt a shock at her elbow just as she hit the revolving door. Looking back as she exited, she saw Eli emerging from the partition behind her, his brow scrunched into a serious scowl. She stopped her escape and stood her ground as he closed in on her, feeling the electricity pulse out of him like a nuclear shock wave. There was no sense in running. She had to face him. She swallowed and willed herself to turn around.

“You should really be in there with Simon and Lucy. They need you.”

Julie watched as the scowl on Eli’s face softened. “And I need
you
.” He reached out to stroke her face, but she backed away.

“But why? You heard what Simon said. You have Lucy now, and Lucy obviously has you.” She couldn’t help but sound bitter, even though she wanted to sound calm and cool about the whole matter. “I can handle things on my own. The Nephilim will be on my trail, and you’ll be able to be reborn.”

It was as if she’d flipped a switch on Eli’s emotions. His eyebrow suddenly rose along with the corner of his mouth. He was smirking at her!

“Ah.” Eli began to circle her, his arms crossed in self-righteous arrogance. “You’re right, you know. I do have Lucy, or at least, I will have her. And we’re going to be very, very close. I daresay she’s going to know me intimately.”