Talisman (36 page)

“
Shi?
  Shiloh, What’s wrong?” Ty asked again.

My eyes started to get misty.  I couldn’t take these hallucinations anymore.
  I didn’t know
what
to say, so I did what any other frightened, crazy person would do —
I ran off!

Chapter  10  —  Fight, Flight, or
Fright ?

I scurried through the crowd of couples as fast as my stilettos would carry me and almost knocked down Elisa Riverside when I dashed up the steps.

“Is something wrong,
Shyla?
” she called out. I ignored her.  I had no time waste.  I needed out of here.  I needed some fresh air.  But most of all, like any scared little girl —
I needed my daddy!

After pushing
through a curtain of dangling crepe streamers, I finally reached the brightly lit hallway.  The building’s exit was just a few feet away.  I hurried over to the brown and gold metal doors, but before I could even lay my hands on them, they opened.  Two of my classmates, Corey Toliver and Jessica Fields, were coming into the building and shaking a mess of something white from their heads —
and I knew it wasn’t dandruff
.

Stunned
, I watched as they walked past me.

“Hey, Shiloh.  Lo
ok outside…
It’s beautiful!
” Jessica exclaimed as she pointed back towards the door.

Quickly, I grabbed the heavy metal door before it could close. 
As I stood there in the doorway, my eyes panned across the grounds.  It was like a winter wonderland.  Everything was glistening with a thick, shimmery blanket of white snow.  There looked to be a good five inches on the ground already.

“You’d better get your coat before you go out there,” Corey
advised.

“Corey,
when
did it start snowing?” I asked curiously.

Maybe it had been snowing earlier?

“That’s the crazy thing about it.  We’ve been outside in my car—”  Corey stopped when Jessica hit his shoulder and shot him a dirty glare.  “Anyway,” he added, “It only started snowing about ten minutes ago, but there’s almost a half a foot out there.  It came down hard and
really fast
.”  Jessica was tugging on his jacket and motioning him towards the gymnasium doors.  “Be careful, Shiloh.  The ground’s already a sheet of ice,” he warned as they trotted into the gym.

I continued to stare at the lights over the parking lot
, simply watching the thick flakes of falling snow.  It was a heavy, wet snow — sure to make the roads a nightmare to drive on.  I was still rattled from my vision, so I hadn’t paid too much attention to the temperature.  But once I’d officially stepped outside, it hit me like a ton of bricks.  It was wicked cold!

The Weather Channel sure missed this one
.  With the utmost caution, I ventured down the steps.  My feet were slipping and sliding underneath me.  If I didn’t twist and sprain my ankle, it would be nothing less than a miracle.  I really didn’t have a plan as to
where
I was going, but I felt like I was almost being led by
something
, possibly my own amazement.  I thought I’d seen it snowing earlier and now…
it was
.

I
eventually found myself standing alone in the middle of the serene, snow-covered upper parking lot.  Cars were well on their way to being buried by the blizzard with each second that passed.  Mike’s red Camaro wasn’t far from where I stood.  All of a sudden, I spotted the silhouette of a man stepping out of the shadows from a distance.  Apparently I wasn’t alone, and he appeared to be heading this way.  As soon as he passed under a utility light, I was able to make out the stranger.  Though he was no stranger. 
It was Mr. Estell!

Oh shit…
Please let this be a vision…

I kept a watchful eye on him as he drew closer.  It
was difficult to walk backward in stilettos, so I yanked them off in a hurry, just in case I needed to make a fast getaway.  If I didn’t feel cold enough before, I sure did then.  My feet were
freezzzing!
  The more I felt the sting of the ice-cold snow on my bare feet, the more certain I was that I’d end up with a horrible case of frostbite.

Seeing how he was at Ms. Sutherland’s
house today, around the time of the “snake-sighting” and possibly a member of a snake-handling church from Jolo, I didn’t need to put 2 and 2 together.  I figured I’d better heighten my guard.  When he noticed that I’d taken off my shoes, his stride towards me quickened.

Crap!

I decided to run back to the gym, but no sooner than I’d turned around, someone grabbed me.  I shot out an impulsive scream and jerked up my head to see who had a hold of me —
Mike Riverside
.

“Shi,
what’s wrong?
  What are you doin’ out here?  Why’d you
scream?
” Mike grilled as he tugged me close to his chest.

Truthfully, I could thi
nk of a million other places I would rather be, but considering I felt like a popsicle and just had the crap scared out of me, I didn’t even think about pulling away — but his questions were starting to get on my nerves.

Mike continued his interrogation. “Did Ty do something to you in there?  An
d, why in the Hell are you…
barefoot?
”

I twisted around in Mike’s arms
, trying to locate Mr. Estell, but he was gone.  Once I’d managed to break free from Mike’s grip, I scanned the parking lot for any signs of him. 
Nothing
.  He was nowhere to be found.  I looked down at my cold, bare feet and realized how stupid I must look.  As I struggled to slip on my shoes, from out of nowhere, a very pissed-off Ty Smith came charging down the slippery steps and threw Mike against the rock retaining wall.

Stunned, I yelled, “
Ty
, what are you
DOING?
” as I scrambled to tie the ribbon bows around my ankles.

Ty
grabbed Mike and gave him a hard punch in his gut and an upper cut to his jaw.  The crown atop Mike’s head flew off from the blow.

“
Payback,
” Ty replied as he rushed over to me.  “
He
started it.  I was about to run after you, and the next thing I knew, his fist was planted in the left side of my face.”

I turned to look at Mike, who was just gett
ing up off the ground.  “Why in the Hell did you do
THAT?
” I demanded.

Mike rubbed his jaw.  “Because you ran off like that.  I figured he did
something
to you?”

After that accusation, Tyler leaped
at Mike again.  Swiftly, I jumped in front of Ty to hold him back.

“I didn’t
do
anything!” Ty insisted.  “At least, I don’t think I did?”  Ty tried to calm down as best he could, what with all that adrenaline pumping.  “Shi, did I?  Did I
do something
to make you run off?”

“
No
, you didn’t,” I impressed to him as I stared into his blue eyes that not only looked confused, but hurt as well.  I turned to Mike and scowled.  “
He didn’t
, okay.  Ty didn’t
do
anything.”  I shook my head and glared at both of them.

Ty pulled me off to the side. 
“Then tell me
why
, when we were getting ready to…
kiss
…you ran off like that?  What happened?”

I longed to tell him the truth, but what was the truth?  I was having a fabulous time dancing with him, having him hold me in his virile arms. 
That was true
.  I leaned in to kiss someone, but that “someone” wasn’t him — because I was having a daggone vision. 
That was also true
.  I decided to take the “easy out”.

“Ty, it’s
me
.  You didn’t do anything.  I’m really not feeling well tonight…That’s all.” 
What a cop-out
, I thought as I continued to orchestrate my words carefully. “I think I just need to go home.”

Still a little groggy from his pummeling, M
ike shook his head and sighed.  “I told you this would happen… You drank the
whole
flask,” Mike declared (without thinking).

Ty ran over to Mike
, grabbed him by his jacket, and threw him back against the retaining wall.

“
What
FLASK?
” Ty demanded.  Mike looked guilty as Hell.  “You tried to get Shiloh
DRUNK?
”  With that said, Ty started pounding on Mike again.

“S
TOP IT!” I yelled.

They weren’t listening, so
I scooped up a huge chunk of snow and crafted a hard snowball.  I aimed it at both of them.  Right then, I really didn’t care which one of the Neanderthals I hit.  The icy-wet ball of snow landed perfectly between both their faces.  Ty finally let go of Mike, who’d actually made a much better showing during their second bout.

“Are y’all
FINISHED?
” I snapped.  In an almost perfectly synchronized move, they each forcefully pushed away from each other.  Evidently, neither wanted the other to get the “last hit”.

Mike
surveyed the damage to his face in a nearby car window.  Ty, on the other hand, removed his tuxedo jacket and draped it around my shoulders. 
Again — Totally perfect…

“
Here, Shiloh.  You’re shivering,” Ty insisted and then pulled me off to the side.  “I’ll take you home, if you want?”

I smiled at him
coyly as he started to rub his hands vigorously up and down my arms.  “That would be ni—”

“
Impossible
is what
that
would be,” Mike interrupted as he pointed over to Ty’s black Chevelle.  Several vehicles had his car penned in.  He sneered at Ty.  “Unless you want to go inside and ask every person blocking you to come out in the snow and move their cars.  I’m sure they’ll
run right out
.”

We both realized what Mike had said was true. 
Not only would it take forever to locate all the cars’ owners, but surely none of them would be too thrilled at the idea of leaving their “good time” for a stroll out into a snow-covered parking lot, just to “let someone out”.

“Anyway…
she’s
my
date, Ty.”  Mike picked his Homecoming King crown up off the ground and flung it like a Frisbee over to Ty.  “
Yours
is still inside. 
I’ll
take Shiloh home,” Mike assured him as he grabbed my hand and then tugged me his way.

“I’ll at least see her to
your
car,” Ty announced with a raging scowl as he pulled me back closer to him and well out of Mike’s grasp.

Mike shot Ty
a dirty look of his own as we headed over to the snow-covered Camaro.

Though the tension between Ty and Mike remained on its present course,
I was starting to feel slightly more at ease, probably because I was finally getting out of here and would be able to confide in Daddy (at last).  I could tell him about all the crazy things that had happened lately, and he would help me figure them out.  Then again, the fact that I was starting to warm up in the comfort of Ty’s strong arms as we walked to the car didn’t hurt either.

“Hang on a second,” Mike spoke up.  He popped his trunk and pulled out a snowbrush.  “I can’t believe I
need this thing already,” he mumbled as he started at the rear of the car, sweeping off the windows.  Ty and I strolled over to the passenger-side of the Camaro.

“Shi, will you call me
later?” Ty asked softly.  “So I’ll know you got
HOME OKAY,
” he added in a rigid tone, with the sentiments behind his words and his steely gaze directed towards Mike.

Mike
shot Ty his own dirty glare while he brushed the snow off more aggressively.

Ty
turned to me and placed his hands on my shoulders. “You know,
um
…because of the
roads
,” he rephrased.

I wasn’t buying his reason one bit, but I
didn’t care about his motive.  I was too flattered by his request.

“I will,” I replied, “but he’s dropping me
off at the mine.  Daddy’s working late, so he’ll take me on home.”

That seemed to put Ty’s mind at ease.
  Mike finished up the front window and maneuvered around to the other side.

“
She’ll be
just fine
,” Mike advised Ty in a sly voice and threw him a taunting wink.

“I’
ll call you later,” I whispered to Ty as I patted him on the chest to curtail his escalating rage.

“That’s kind of crazy,” Mike blurted as he
stood beside the passenger-side door.  “The snow didn’t stick over here.”  He took a hold of the handle and pulled the shiny, red car door open.  “Come on, Shi. 
We
can go now,” Mike announced.