Rising (14 page)

“What color am I now?” he whispered.

I watched his aura flicker and flame
like a maddened blaze.

“You look like you’re on fire.”

“Funny,” he whispered, smiling, “I feel
like I’m on fire.”

His hands were still on my hips as he pulled
me closer.
 
Our second embrace was
stronger, deeper, longer.
 
I wound my
hand into the back of his hair, marveling at how soft it was.
 
He slipped a hand behind my neck.
 
Through my closed eyelids, I could see his
aura glowing brightly.
 
A current of
electricity coursed through both of us, and I wondered if this was normal, or
if our powers amplified our attraction. Whatever force drew us to each other;
it bonded us permanently with that deep, lingering kiss.
 
The sun disappeared beneath the horizon, but
we hadn’t noticed.
 
We were lost in each
other.
 
I felt dizzy when Gabe finally
pulled away.
 
I steadied myself with one
hand on his chest, not wanting this to end.
 
We didn’t speak, but simply basked in this hypnotic feeling that had
woven itself around us, tying us together like an invisible string.
 
Gabe traced the line of my chin with his
thumb and down my neck to my collar bone, which made me hitch my breath in
sharply.
 
Looking into his eyes, I knew
he was feeling everything I was.
 
That
half-smile lingered on his lips, driving me absolutely crazy.
 

The coolness of night settled in around
us, reminding us eventually that we had to go in.
 
I had forgotten my earlier angst about the
smoky aura around Zack’s dad as Gabe walked me up the drive, his hand
intertwined with mine.
 
Somehow,
everything else felt far, far away.
 
He
gave me one last swift kiss on the porch.

“See you tomorrow.”

I smiled and nodded.
 
As I turned, something flashed darkly in the
corner of my eye.
 
I glanced toward the
old oak tree to the right of the house, but there were only shadows cast by the
setting sun moving slightly in the breeze.

“You okay?” he asked, standing at the
foot of the porch steps.

“Yeah.
 
Of course.”

I wasn’t.
 
This had happened too many times lately.
 
My fears had manifested into fleeting shadows
that haunted me daily.
 
I wouldn’t burden
Gabe with this now.
 
I couldn’t ruin what
was possibly the most perfect ending to any day I ever had.
 
We could deal with shadows and nightmares
tomorrow.

6

GABE

Pale moonlight slipped in through the window,
tinting the white walls blue.
 
I lay on
my back, staring at the ceiling.
 
I’d
never thought there might be someone out there like me who also had a strange
supernatural sense; especially not someone like Clara, who apparently had
similar feelings for me.
 
It was like
fate or destiny or something.
 

There was no way I could go to sleep, knowing
some hellish creature waited to haunt me there.
 
I only wanted to think of Clara—the way her auburn hair brushed my neck
and cheek when I held her, the way she leaned into me when I kissed her, the
way she couldn’t wipe the smile off of her face afterward.

I rolled over on my side and glanced at my cell
phone on the table.
 
Should I call her?
 
I picked it up and saw a text message
waiting.

Hey.
 
Are you asleep?

It only took me a
few seconds to reply.

No.
 
Call me.

I punched the volume
down, knowing my mom was a light sleeper.
 
She never was too restrictive with me or anything, but I still didn’t
want her wandering in, asking me why I was on the phone at midnight.
 
A few seconds ticked by then the phone
vibrated in my hand.

“Hey.”

I was glad to hear
her voice.

“Hey.”

“Can’t sleep?” I
asked.

“No.”

“Me neither.”

The conversation
came to a dead halt after that.
 
I was
thinking about this afternoon, but didn’t know what to say.
 
Clara broke the silence with a new subject.

“Hey, did you hear
from Theresa
Miguez
?”

“Oh, I almost forgot
about her.”

“Why?
 
Was something else distracting you?” she
asked.

I could feel a sly
smile spread across her face.

“No comment.”

There was a thud as
I rolled off the bed and knocked my Physics textbook to the floor.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” I
replied.
 
“Just give me a sec.
 
I’m gonna pull up my e-mail.”

I pulled up to my
computer desk and moved the mouse around to wake up my desktop.
 
I double-clicked the Internet Explorer icon
and waited.
 
Again, Clara broke into the
silence.
 
I don’t think she liked the
quiet.

“So, do you think
the hurricane is going to miss us?
 
The
newscasters seem to think so.”

There was an edge to
her voice.
 
I knew she didn’t believe it
any more than I did.
 
There was something
about this hurricane that made me feel tense and guarded.
 
I didn’t know for sure that it would hit us
or not, but I knew something was coming our way.

“I don’t know.
 
I can’t tell you why or how, but I think it’s
still coming here.”

“I know.
 
Me too.”

“Hey!
 
I have a reply from her.
 
Wait, I’ve got four replies from her.”

“Wow, didn’t you
check your e-mail this week?”

“Well, I checked the
day after we sent it, then I just kind of got distracted and forgot.”

“Really?
 
By me?”

         
Again, I could feel the smile coming
through the phone.

         
“You sure are pretty blunt, you know
that?”

         
“Yes, I know.
 
So, what does she say?”

         
I clicked on the oldest e-mail
first.
 
It went on and on.

         
“Okay.
 
I’m gonna forward this to you and sum it up while you’re pulling up your
e-mail.”

         
“Alright.
 
Read away.”

         
“The first part talks about her
experience in Cuba.
 
She says, ‘After a
horrible explosion where the entire site sank into the ground and buried
everyone alive, I stayed under cover in the jungle for fear of the beings I saw
pass nearby.
 
I stayed the whole night,
hiding in the hollow trunk of a tree.
 
The next day, I wandered into the next village where the only person
left was a mute boy of about twelve.
 
He
could not speak and tell me what had happened.
 
He seemed confused and lost.
 
The
strange thing about the village was the thin coating of ash spread over the
place, and I had found no evidence of fire.’ ”

I paused.
 
There was no response from Clara on the other
end, and there was no need.
 
Neither of
us wanted to talk about the creatures from our dreams that seem to be made of
ash.
 
I had a prickly sensation thinking
about the one that inhaled the breaking pieces of my chest.

“Keep going,” said
Clara, “I’ve almost got my e-mail pulled up.”

“ ‘I went on to the
next village and the same thing apparently happened there.
 
When I finally found a town that seemed
untouched by these beings, they all were oblivious to any sort of
catastrophe.
 
The locals thought I was
crazy.
 
I got out on the first plane and
just in time, because a severe electrical storm hit right after I left.
 
It apparently knocked all of Cuba out of
power.
 
When I arrived home to
Albuquerque, I could not convince anyone of what I saw.
 
They all think I suffered a severe
concussion.
 
But, I know what I saw.
 
I know something is terribly wrong.’ ”

         
“Wait, Gabe, scroll down to her last
paragraph.”

         
“Man, you’re quick.”

         
“Look, she says that her pictures are
of the archaeological site before the disaster.
 
She thinks the creatures depicted on the wall were the very same things
that destroyed those towns.”

         
“So, what she’s telling us is, these
things are for real.”

         
There was a long pause on the other
end.

         
“Gabe, what do the other e-mails say?”

         
I clicked open the second one.

         
“Wow.
 
She wants to come visit us in person.
 
She wants to know how to reach us.”

         
“Gabe, what if she’s some psycho?
 
I don’t think we should give her our numbers.”

         
I thought about all I’d just
read.
 
Although I couldn’t sense Theresa
Miguez’s
emotions through cyberspace, I knew she was being
sincere.

         
“Clara, do you really think she is
making all of this up?
 
I mean, why would
she create some crazy story like this?
 
She already says she’s lost her reputation at work.
 
She apparently needs to speak to someone who
believes in what she’s saying.”

         
“What do the other e-mails say?”

         
I clicked them open.
 
They were brief.

         
“Well, yesterday’s was another request
to come and see us.
 
She says that she
thinks the hurricane has something to do with the creatures.”

         
There was another pause.
 
Both of us knew now that Theresa was more
than a deluded head-case.
         
“Send her your cell number,”
said Clara finally.

         
“The e-mail she sent this morning says
she’ll be arriving on a plane in Lafayette tomorrow, and she lists her cell
number to contact her.”

         
“Seriously?”

         
“Yeah.”

         
The excitement I felt from our
afternoon together had faded with the sinking feeling that our dreams were not
just dreams.
 
They were premonitions of
some dark evil coming closer and closer.
 
This woman Theresa
Miguez
was solid proof,
having seen with her own eyes what we feared from our nightmares.

         
“Well, Clara,” I finally said.
 
“Let’s not talk anymore about what this could
or couldn’t mean.
 
Not tonight anyway.”

I was more than
aware that we would both be asleep soon and with the possibility of dreaming
about man-eating monsters, I didn’t want to worry Clara anymore tonight.

“Tomorrow should be
an interesting day,” I added, trying for lighthearted.

I almost pulled it
off.

         
“Yeah, you’re right,” was all she
said.

         
“You want me to pick you up for
school?”

         
I knew it made no sense to pick her
up, since her dad was a teacher at BCHS, but I didn’t care.
 
I just wanted to see her as soon as
possible.
 
Lunch time seemed too far
away.
 
I actually wished I could crawl
through the phone receiver and hold her and tell her it would all be alright.
 
Since I certainly didn’t have the power of
teleportation, which actually would’ve been a useful paranormal power, I asked
for the second best thing, to see her as soon as I could.

         
“That would be great,” she said.

         
I wanted to hear that smile spreading
across her face through the phone, but I didn’t.
 
I hated to go to sleep, knowing she was
upset, but I didn’t know how to erase this waking nightmare from her thoughts.