Stormfront (Undertow Book 2) (21 page)

Cautiously, Nikki reached out a trembling hand and touched the velvet ears of my friend’s furry form and stroked his head softly. “Good dog,” she said, her voice a cracked whisper.

Marsh scooted a little closer until his head was in her lap and she continued to tell him he was a good dog until her voice broke. She doubled over into Marsh’s thick, black coat and sobbed, hanging onto his massive head as if he was her lifeline. Nikki, scourge of my high school life, looked more broken in that moment than I had ever been after the Breakers.

I saw Marsh look to me and I mouthed the words
good job
to him from my hiding place by the stairs. He rolled his head slightly to bring himself closer to Nikki’s shivering body and I silently slipped out through the front door, leaving my friend to comfort Nikki Shea alone.

It wasn’t until I reached the Bronco, that I realized I had more than MJ’s cod fish boxers and random clothes in my hands. I also had the little book from Nikki’s closet . . . and Elizabeth’s necklace.

I pushed through the door
s
to the high school, holding them open for Eila and a few other students as we entered on Monday morning. The sheer volume of students moving in the space never failed to leave me floored. Cape Cod, as small as it was, had an enormous high school that served thousands of students, and hallways that seemed to form miles of tile.

Eila once said the building was so massive, that you could hide a small army within the walls – it was an idea I found worrisome.
 

Christian was of the mind that no Mortis would ever make a scene inside the school, as our kind only survived by staying below the human radar.

I had never known a Mortis to make a spectacle of himself in a public place, but someone like Eila had not been seen in almost two centuries. If her presence as a Lunaterra was known, I feared that all bets were off when it came to the safety of the high school and the students inside.  A handful of my kind could decimate the student body in a matter of minutes and Eila could level the building all together.

My concerns, combined with the fact that the high school was a public building and therefore anyone, human or otherwise, could enter, made me a huge fan of homeschool.

“Are you listening to me?” I heard Eila ask as we reached her locker.

I gave an apologetic smile, “I’m sorry, my thoughts were elsewhere for a moment.”

“I asked where you and Kian were going for, uh, dinner tonight?” she asked, glancing around at the students flowing by us. Several were watching us, which wasn’t all that unusual, but the looks on their faces were almost . . . accusing.

I started scanning the halls and realized a fair number of students were stealing glances my way, and my instinct switched to high alert. Something was going on, but I smiled back at Eila, refusing to show her my concern. “I’m not sure yet. Someplace probably west of Boston,” I replied, fully aware I was lying to her. Kian and I had planned to head to the Lucky Lady again in the hopes of possibly running into
Rillin or another Mortis who might buy from him and know his whereabouts. I may have agreed to get information from him, but the reality was I wanted him checked off our To-Do list as soon as possible. I wanted him checked-off permanently.

I felt
Eila’s cool, delicate hand lace into mine, and I turned to look at her. She had a knowing quirked look to her face. “You are so not listening to me, are you? Something is going through that head of yours and you have tuned into a new radio station.”

I brushed her dark hair back over her shoulder and let it tumble do
wn her back. “I’m sorry, I am just hoping that you have a good day – no drama queens with red fingernails and what not.” Technically that wasn’t a lie. I hoped that both Nikki and Teddy stayed far, FAR away from Eila every day.

She gave me a smile then looked past me and waved to someone approaching from behind where I stood. I glanced over my shoulder and saw MJ and Ana approaching us, Ana’s hands waving animatedly as she talked.

Finally they reached us and Ana was still arguing her point about some drummer from a band I had never heard of. She shook her head, her cropped blonde hair dancing around her face. “No, no, no! The drummer in Ozzy’s band kills it. I don’t care what you say plus I always assumed you were tone-deaf, especially with YOUR playlist! I can’t even believe your iPod allows you to download such crap!”

“TONE-DEAF? I think not. I’m not the one with an entire floppy-haired boy band
’s album on my playlist,” replied MJ with a devilish smile.

Ana looked horrified and gave him a shove, “THAT WAS A SECRET!”

Eila laughed as she jammed a final text book in her locker and slammed the steel door shut, spinning the lock. “I actually like some of their stuff,” she replied, defending her roommate.

“HA! See? Even Eila likes their stuff! Tone-deaf you are!” laughed Ana, but then she noticed that MJ was also watching the other students. He gave me a questioning look as he realized I seemed to be the center of some unwanted attention. Angry attention.

“What?” demanded Ana, never missing a thing. She started looking around as well and her face fell from amusement to confusion. She leaned closer to me. “What did you do?” she asked me in a hushed tone.

“What’s going on?” asked Eila, sliding up next to me.

Ana looked over to E. “Our classmates seem to be pissed, about what I don’t know, but the emotion is aimed at Raef.”

“I don’t know what they are mad about,” I replied, taking
Eila’s backpack from her, and encompassing her hand in mine. Suddenly the hallway seemed more like a gauntlet.

MJ, getting the same impression as me, curled a protective arm around Ana. Because they were my friends, they would probably also be glued to the same bull’s eye I was.

“I wonder if there is some rumor going around that we don’t yet know about?” offered MJ, but then a voice, loud and demanding, rang out through the corridor.

“RAEF!
WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!” yelled Jesse, storming down the hall right for us.

I pulled Eila behind me, now faced with a sizable, pissed-off football player headed my way. MJ pushed Ana behind him as well and stood shoulder to shoulder with me. In his human form, MJ would be snapped like a tall twig, but I admired his bravery. Eila, never one to be bossed around, tried to squeeze her way around me, but I pinned her to my back with one arm like a band of steel.

“Raef – let me go,” she urged, but Jesse was getting way too close for comfort. He was still yelling at me as he came, and the students were quickly getting out of his way, hoping to survive whatever was about to go down. I ran every scenario I could through my head as to why Jesse was so enraged, but I couldn’t come up with a single answer. Not knowing put me on edge, but having to fight this kid didn’t phase me in the least. Hell – it wouldn’t even be a fight. Jesse didn’t know what he was in for.

But then I felt Eila wiggling against me, trying to push off my back with her tiny hands, and I realized I couldn’t show my true strength in the high school halls.

Finally Jesse was within feet of me and he shoved me hard, but I caught myself so I wouldn’t slam Eila into the lockers. I heard her gasp when Jesse’s wide palms connected with my chest, and the fact that he frightened her made my blood boil.

“Don’t do that
again,” I warned, trying to rein in my rage.

“What the hell is your problem, man?” demanded MJ, right in Jesse’s face.

“Get the hell out of here Williams – this doesn’t concern a light-weight like you!” snapped Jesse. To my shock, MJ shoved the massive quarterback right in the chest. Granted, Jesse didn’t move, but MJ’s willingness to be beaten into a pulp for my sake spoke volumes to how good of a friend he was. Of course, there would be no way I would let Jesse damage anyone.

He grabbed MJ by the shirt-collar and Ana let out a string of curses, demanding he let her best friend go. She also added a few high
ly descriptive ways in which she would alter his manhood, but I intervened and clamped my hand on Jesse’s arm. If I squeezed the way I wanted to, I’d crush his arm and football would be just a memory. I controlled my strength though, and Jesse’s head snapped in my direction.

He glared at me as he let go of MJ, ripping his arm away from my grasp.
“Don’t touch me, O’Reilly. I knew you had a short fuse, but my god - he won’t play for the rest of the year! His college rides will probably bail on him! And for what? Because he had a bit too much to drink and got stupid with your girl?”

My body turned into a stone of rage and I felt Eila grip my sides, whispering a warning to me to let it go. To not react, that it wasn’t worth it. But all I could visualize was cracking Jesse’s head like an egg against the cinderblock wall. It was Ana’s voice, however, that managed to keep me sane.

“What are you talking about, Jess?” she demanded, twisting herself around MJ. “Who won’t play what?”

“TEDDY! Somebody called Coach and accused him of assault!”

I was stunned, but unfortunately not surprised. Guys like Teddy didn’t change and now he had gone and messed up with another girl. I hoped he didn’t get too far with whoever she was.

Eila weaseled her way under my arm. “Jesse! Be quiet will you! None of us reported him. I didn’t want anyone to know! I don’t want his football career ruined over a few stupid minutes of his life.”

I was awed by the fact that she could care at all, but that was exactly who Eila was – concerned, even for someone who had done her harm.

Jesse kept glaring at her and it made my hackles rise. He gave her a disgusted smile, “Don’t play dumb
, Eila. It doesn’t suit you.”

That’s it – I needed to punch his fat head, an
d would’ve but E was between two aggravated men. Not a good place to have her if I wanted her safe. I pulled back my burning desire to pummel the quarterback into the lockers.

Eila’s
eyes narrowed as she appraised Jesse, “Wait – you think Raef reported it? Are you out of your mind, Jesse? He would never do something like that!”

“He would for you! I can see it in his face – he would do anything for you!”

Jesse was absolutely right. I would do it for Eila, but I wouldn’t have reported it.  I would’ve just killed Teddy and made his body disappear.

I stepped in front of Eila, which put me even tighter to Jesse. “I didn’t call. Don’t get me wrong – the idea crossed my mind, but it wasn’t me.”

MJ wrinkled his brow, “Did Teddy accuse Raef?”

Jesse straightened, flexing his shoulder as if he was stiff with tension. “No. But he never did anything like that to anyone else. Look
, Eila, he is trying to curb his drinking because of you.” He looked at E, his rage falling slightly. “Just so you know, he has no recollection of that night. He only knows because I told him about what had happened. He is trying to change and he is horribly sorry.”

Eila let out a deflated breath. She squeezed around to my side and laid a hand on Jesse’s arm, which made me tense. “It wasn’t Raef.”

MJ and Ana nodded.

Jesse rubbed his head furiously, letting out a half growl of frustration. When he finally composed himself, he looked back at me. “I thought . . . with how you looked at the beach . . . Look, I’m sorry, Raef,” he finally sighed.

I gave him a brief nod. I understood that his rage was in defense of a friend, even if that friend was a jerk. And yeah – it made sense that I would have been at the top of his list of suspects, but if the night of the bonfire wasn’t Teddy’s only transgression with a girl, then he was bound to have more enemies.

Jesse now looked fairly apologetic as he stood in front of us. “Teddy said that if he is off the team for what happened that night
, then it is what he deserves. Eila, will you talk to him? For me? I know I said you don’t have to, but his mind is really in a dark place.”

I braced myself for
Eila’s answer, because knowing her –

“Yeah. I’ll talk to him. Just not today, okay?”

Damn. I wanted to hit something.

Something in the shape of a linebacker named Teddy would suit me just fine.

After the hellish mornin
g
at school, I needed to defuse.

MJ and I had yet to tell our friends about our successful break-in at Nikki’s two nights ago. We thought it would be wise to tell everyone at once and then crack open the diary together – as a team. Our goal w
as to do so as soon as possible . . . if we could get everyone together in one place for ten seconds.

The
sucktastic part would be explaining how we had the necklace in the first place.  

Ana had suggested we stop by the local store after school and browse for inspiration to help us unwind. My thinking was tacky nail polish and chocolate. Ana’s however was more daring, and I wimped out on her suggestion.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked her as she wrapped another old towel around her bare shoulders. I watched her as she began mixing some weird concoction that was guaranteed to change the color of her pixie-like locks.

“I’m sick of being a blonde. I can’t wait to go back to my roots. Literally,” she replied, laying out all the items that came in the small box. “I still say you would have rocked the purple streaks. We should have got them.”

I flipped through the instructions for the hair dye procedure. “If you had put that stuff in my hair, my luck would dictate that the purple turned pink. I’ll pass. You will rock the dark color though.”

She smiled and began applying some weird goop to her hair.

“Are you sure you don’t need any help?” I asked, though I was praying she didn’t because the chemical smell was brutal in the bathroom.

I needed a gas mask
, for crying out loud.

“Nope. You go hang with MJ before he eats all the candy you bought. I’ve done this before, so I’m good.”

Thank god.

I left Ana in the bathroom while she tended to her alterations and headed down the stairs to the first floor, where MJ was picking through the junk I bought.

He glanced up at me, “How is it possible you didn’t get any licorice? You basically got every variety of chocolate, but no gummy-anything! Sheesh . . . Next time, I’m going in the store with ya and guiding your junk-food selections.”

I snatched a candy bar and flopped onto the couch. “Chocolate is a food group for females. Get with the program.”

He tossed me a look and I balled the candy wrapper, flinging it at him. It drifted to the floor a few feet before him and he made a comment about my lousy aim.

He finally grabbed a small bag of chips and sat down next to me. “Will she be upstairs for a while?” he asked quietly. I nodded
, knowing MJ and I needed to chat.

“So what happened after I left?” I asked, referring to the incident in Nikki’s house.

“Nothing really. I stayed with her until she dialed her parents, then I split and got back to you in the Bronco. When she was on the phone though, it sounded like her parents were mad at her. Can you believe it?”

Actually I could. The way Nikki acted was probably a result of a loveless childhood.

MJ examined a chip in his hand, his face serious. “Nikki was really upset about losing the necklace. I could hear her parents freaking out about it on the other end of the phone. I gotta tell ya – I kinda feel bad we took it.”

After protecting Nikki, MJ had run back to the Bronco as Marsh, meeting me in the florist’s parking lot. He then phased into his shivering, human self and proceeded to get dressed, trying not to freeze his butt off as he did so.

Quite frankly, he needed to figure out how to phase without being stark naked. I mean, we were good friends and all, but some things just stepped over the line, like him stripping next to me in Nikki Shea’s closet. I consider that a one-time deal only. No do-overs.

I had sat in the front seat while he changed, examining th
e stunning pendant. It had tiny little gears embedded in the backside, almost as if they were smaller versions of the one Agent Howe had shown me.

MJ turned to look at me as we sat on the couch, “You do realize we are going to have to tell Raef and the others, right? The sooner we unlock the diary, the better, even if it means we are lectured
by Kian and Raef until our ears bleed.”

I moaned as I sa
nk deeper into the couch, not looking forward to that discussion with Raef. “Any chance you can track the robber? You know – as Marsh?”

“What do I look like? A bloodhound? NO. No I cannot track the robber who is probably going to break into someone else’s house the second he can.” He finished off the small bag of chips and balled the bag in his fist.

I sighed, “Late last night I got to look through the French book that has that weird atom-thing on it. The whole book is filled with what looks like math equations related to gears and stuff. And the necklace is like the inside of some super-elaborate watch. There are all tiny gears embedded in the back, almost as if they are smaller versions of the one Agent Howe had shown me.”

“Well that’s just terrific! And what the hell is with that damn symbol?” asked MJ standing up. “Sula had it, you’ve been drawing it,
freakin’ Dalca had a gear engraved with it, and Nikki Shea has a book on it. At this rate, half the town will have the symbol and we will be the only ones that can’t make heads or tails of it.”

Something occurred to me then, “That dealer –
Rillin. He had a symbol on his chest, but I could only see part of it. It looked like it was part of a circle.”

“Don’t even tell me HE had that atom-thing as well!” accused MJ.

“I don’t know. Maybe.” I stared at my feet, trying to recall the shape that hid under the strap of Rillin’s vest.

MJ watched me for a while and then finally threw his hands in the air. “That’s it. My brain is toast and I can’t think anymore. All of this is just way too confusing for me. Sula,
Rillin, Elizabeth, the diary, Christian, a freakin’ atom – am I missing anything? Cause seriously, my tolerance for puzzles maxes out with the wooden ones for the pre-K crowd.”

I laughed, because it was better than crying. “Yeah – I get
ya, trust me.”

MJ and I picked up the snacks and brought them into the kitchen. Raef and Kian had left after school to hunt locally. They planned to hunt for a few hours, then we would all meet up over at Torrent Road.

MJ was our guard until then, and he had been walking a fine line with his mother. So far he had been able to balance guarding us with his time in the shop and school, but I could tell it was getting exhausting for him. I needed to find a way to control my power so the guard dog thing could become a hobby, rather than a mandatory job.

As MJ washed a few bowls, I returned to the front parlor to grab the last co
uple of glasses, but caught sight of someone on the front porch. Startled, I moved carefully to the far window and peered through, entirely shocked to see Teddy standing on my porch and talking to himself while he paced.

Jeez . . .

He was obviously debating whether or not to knock on my door, and I was just going to leave him on the porch, but then I caught sight of something in the darkened tree line on the opposite side of the street. A shadow, once still, was moving along the edge of the bushes towards the porch and Teddy.

My heart launched into overdrive and I ripped open the front door, startling Teddy. He took a fast step
back, no doubt shocked I was now standing in the open doorway. “Oh. Hey. I uh . . . I just wanted to say. You know. . .”

“Come on in!” I yelled in his face, grabbing him by the hand and hauling him through the front door as I tried to keep an eye on the deadly shadow, now cruising toward the side of my house. Teddy was an idiot, but there was no way he deserved to be murdered on my front porch. My skin began to crawl at the thought of a killer outside the walls of my home, hiding in the darkness.

“Give me one second. I’ll be right back,” I said to Teddy, who was still stunned. Looking at his expression, I knew he had been prepared to get the door slammed in his face.

I flew into the kitchen and grabbed MJ, covering his mouth with my hand so he wouldn’t speak. He gave me a confused look and I backed him into the laundry room and shut the door behind us.

“Eila! What the heck are you doing?” he asked. He glanced behind me. “Wow – nice skivvies.”

I growled and yanked my plain white bras off the drying line, tossing them in a basket on the floor. “Pay attention! Teddy’s here!”

“WHAT?”

“I let him in because one of the shadows across the street moved, and not in a Christmas Elf
kinda way!”

MJ’s eyes grew hard. “I’ll phase and go kick its ass. How many did you see?”

“I don’t know and you are not going out there. I want you in here with us. Just phase, will ya, and get your furry rear out with me in the front room?”

MJ started swearing a blue streak as he began stripping. I left him in the laundry room to phase while I hurried back out to Teddy, who had not moved a muscle since I left.

“So, uh . . .” I began, but then I realized I was stuck with Teddy Bencourt standing in my parlor. I had not thought this through very well.

Teddy cleared his throat and tucked his hands in his pockets, “Listen, I just came by because I wanted to say I understand why you called the coach and I probably deserved it.”

“What? No – I didn’t call. None of us did.”

Teddy shifted his weight, “Really?”

“Really. Look – I just want the whole incident to go away. You were drunk, you don’t remember what happened, and Raef made sure it didn’t go too far.”

The color drained from Teddy’s face. He looked like he might even get sick. “Eila
, I can’t tell you how sorry I am. I want to fix it – to erase that night all together.”

Boy, he wasn’t kidding. After the whole disaster with Teddy, I had gone back to my car for a clean sweatshirt and ended up getting tossed from the Town Neck
bridge by a Mortis. Raef saved my life that night and everything I knew about the world changed forever in a matter of minutes.

“Jesse said you aren’t drinking anymore,” I replied, trying to mute the visions now running in my head. Looking at Teddy, I knew he would have overpowered me that night. He would’ve ended up in jail and I would’ve ended up with scars on my heart that might never heal. We both dodged a life-altering bullet that evening because of Raef.

“No – no more alcohol for me. Ever. I don’t remember that night. I don’t know if I hurt you . . . did I?” His question was laced with so much shame I actually felt bad for him.

I shook my head, unable to speak.

He swallowed, “Do you think I did that to another girl? Is that why someone left an anonymous call to the coach?”

Anonymous? I didn’t know it was anonymous. “The person who called the coach didn’t give a name? What about details?”

Teddy just shook his head and I was lost in thought until someone pounded on the front door, causing me to jump. I walked to the window and looked through the glass to see Jesse standing on my porch. Fate totally hated my guts.

Jesse looked pissed, but I remembered I had other visitors prowling around. I ripped the door open. “Hey
, Jesse – Come on in!” I said quickly, yanking him inside. The two football players were going to think I was desperate for visitors the way I was pulling people through my front door. Just as I slammed the door, Marsh lurked into the room from the kitchen, his head low as he watched the two footballers. He looked outrageously scary as he moved slowly into the room, scanning our houseguests, though his gaze seemed to focus on Jesse.

“Is that – is that the town stray?” asked Teddy, trying not to show his unease in front of such a dangerous looking dog.

“Uh, yeah. This is Marsh,” I said, tossing a hand toward MJ’s black form. “He visits on occasion.”

“Nikki Shea’s house was broken into the other night and she said this dog protected her,” said Teddy. Jesse nodded, his eyes narrowed.

Oh man. Nikki had blabbed. “Her house was broken into? Is she  . . . alright?” I asked, trying to act shocked even though I knew all the details of that night.

“Yeah. A little shaken, but you know Nikki. She’s strong. She’ll be back at school tomorrow or the next day,” said Teddy.

Awesome.

Jesse, who was still looking at Marsh with a wary sort of interest, finall
y turned his attention to Teddy. “I thought I told you not to come by Eila’s house? I thought I told you she was willing to talk, but to give her time? I called your house and your mom said you had gone out to talk to someone and I thought you wouldn’t be nuts enough to come here. I drove by just to make sure you weren’t here, and sure enough – your truck is in her driveway!”

Jesse was pissed and while I applauded his attempt to honor my request for space, I also was impressed by Teddy’s determination to make things right. It took a lot of guts to come to my home.

Marsh’s head snapped toward the staircase as I heard Ana’s voice ring out, “Okay, so I know it is a little dark but I really like it. What do you –” Her words halted on her lips as she saw Teddy, Jesse, Marsh and myself all standing in the parlor. “I can’t wait to hear the explanation on this one,” she muttered coolly, crossing her arms.