Thrall (24 page)

“Hey, I know this is kind of short notice,” he said. “But do you want to go to a movie with me after school? I’m only asking because Gretchen’s out of town. You can’t have practice without a sparring partner, right? And who knows when we might get another...”

“Yes,” I said, laughing. “I would love to go to a movie with you.”

By the time I got to English, there was only one available seat left. Right in front of Missy and Amber. With a small sigh, I took it. Missy tapped me on the shoulder about five minutes later. I sighed inwardly.
Here we go.

“I was wondering if I could ask you for a favor,” Missy whispered when Mr. Young’s back was turned.

“What?” I meant,
Could you please repeat that, it sounded like you just asked me for a favor.
But she interpreted it as,
What favor?

“I’m in charge of organizing this year’s Winter Ball. We’re selling tickets, and the profits are going to diabetes research.” I stared at Missy. Her big sister, Carrie, had been born with diabetes. Carrie had graduated last year but I remembered her. She’d been on the cheer squad, and she was down to earth and funny. The kind of girl I would have liked as a friend. I’d never forget the day she slipped into insulin shock. She’d been studying under a tree and she just seemed to go blank. Someone noticed and ran for the school nurse. They called the paramedics, but while we were waiting for them, the nurse got Carrie to swallow some jam and she slowly came back to herself. By the time the paramedics arrived, she was talking again. I’d heard she was studying at Brown now. “I was thinking we could have the dance at the Raven,” Missy said.

“Why do you want my help?” I asked bluntly.

Missy gave me a little half-smile. It was like an admission of guilt. “I know we haven’t exactly been BFFs,” she said. “But I need you. You have... a lot of fans at school. If you help us with the Ball, I know it’ll be successful.” She seemed to be waiting for my answer. When I hesitated, she got worried. “Look, the profits are going to a good cause. My sister...”

“Okay. I’ll help.” I didn’t want her to use Carrie to try to guilt-trip me. “When is it?”

Missy grinned. “December twenty-first.” I felt a chill run over my skin.

“Missy? Braedyn?” Mr. Young said, giving us an irritated glare. “I hope I’m not interrupting your little social hour back there by trying to teach my class.”

“Sorry, Mr. Young,” Missy said, flashing him a brilliant smile. He frowned and turned back to the blackboard. Missy leaned back to me, keeping her voice low. “I think we should do some kind of Winter Solstice theme, since Winter Ball is actually
on
the Solstice this year. The good news is, we have three and a half weeks to plan.”

My mind felt numb. Three and a half weeks. There were only three and a half weeks left to stop Ais before she rekindled an ancient war.

I was still reeling when Lucas found me after school.

“What kind of movie do you want to see?” he asked. I blanched, remembering our plans. Lucas saw my expression and hesitated. “Unless you’ve changed your mind...?”

“No. I just have to call Dad,” I said, covering quickly.

When I made the call, Dad assumed this was a group experience, and I didn’t correct him. We’d invited Royal and Cassie, but she wanted to get home in case Parker called. So Royal took Cassie home and I drove with Lucas to the movie theater. We got our tickets and Lucas bought a popcorn for us to share. Being an early show on a Monday, the theater was practically empty. We picked a spot near the back and settled in as the trailers rolled onto the screen.

I glanced at Lucas. He caught the movement and smiled at me. I felt a little thrill. No one was going to walk in on us, we weren’t late to any classes, and we didn’t have any other friends hanging around. This was an honest-to-goodness date. Lucas offered his hand, palm up. I took it, reveling in the touch as his fingers curled around mine with casual familiarity. I was glad for the dark, so he couldn’t see the blush spreading over my cheeks.

By the time the movie started, I was relaxing into my chair. It was an action movie, and it was so bad it was funny. We started snickering and couldn’t stop. We finally got shushed by a serious-looking guy a few rows in front of us, which just made us shake harder with silent laughter. After we recovered, I found myself watching him, mesmerized, as the flickering light from the movie screen played off his features.

Lucas leaned forward and kissed me. His touch sent jolts of shivery thrills across my skin. After the aching frustration of the weekend, our kiss became urgent, heated. Lucas lifted a hand to my cheek, letting his thumb trace the edge of my jaw. I reached for him, too, resting one hand on his chest, sliding the other up to his face. I felt the pulse of life in his throat, quickening.

But then something changed.

The intense, staccato soundtrack of the movie seemed to fade, slipping into the background of my mind. I was only dimly aware of this. Lucas, and the growing heat of our kiss, filled my head. A strange, surging storm was moving
through
me, wild and powerful and heedless of whatever stood in its path.

Lucas’ arm dropped, scattering popcorn on the ground.

With impossible effort, I pulled back.

What I saw in Lucas’ face turned my blood cold. His eyes, half-lidded, looked listless and dull. As soon as we broke contact, his eyes closed and he slipped into unconsciousness. The storm with in me subsided do a dull roar, receding slowly. My heart thudded painfully. We’d kissed. That was all. What was happening?

I shook him gently, but Lucas didn’t stir. His chest was rising and falling with slow, even breaths, but his eyelids didn’t flicker. I shook him harder. In front of us, the credits started to roll. They seemed to drag on for hours as I tried to bring Lucas back to consciousness. Finally I saw some movement beneath his lids. Groggily, and with great effort, he opened his eyes.

Relief turned my muscles to jelly. I slumped in my seat, watching as he stirred.

He saw me staring and wiped his eyes, straining to sit up. “Wow, this is embarrassing,” he said. “Please tell me I wasn’t drooling.” He wiped his chin quickly.

I shook my head, still too keyed up to smile. “You feel okay?”

“Actually, yeah. Just a little tired,” he said, stretching. “The natural side-effect of spending yet another weekend on home improvement.” He saw our popcorn, scattered all over the floor. “Oh man, we made a mess in here.”

We scooped up the spilled popcorn and left, tossing the tub in the trash on our way out. Lucas reached for my hand but I pulled away from him quickly. He glanced at me, uncertain.

I used my cell phone as an excuse, pulling it out of my pocket and turning it on. “Dad’s pretty insistent. I promised I’d turn it back on right after the movie.” As I fussed with my phone, I was screaming at myself internally. Whatever had happened in there could
never happen again.
What if Gretchen was right? What if no matter what I tried to do, I ended up hurting Lucas? If we kissed again...? What if I lost control next time? What if I couldn’t stop the storm? With a dull realization, I suddenly knew I had to tell him the truth.

“Everything cool?” he asked, worried.

“Actually, there is... something I need to tell you,” I started. My cell phone beeped, interrupting me. I glanced at it and saw I had thirty-four missed calls. I lifted the phone up for a closer look. Thirty-four?

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know.” I hit the speed dial for my voicemail. The first message was from Royal.

“Braedyn, where are you? I need you. Cassie... she slept with that asshole last night. He had friends hiding in his private bathroom, watching the whole thing. It was some kind of bet. The whole school knows. Cassie won’t see me. She’s locked herself in her room. Her parents don’t know, Braedyn. I can’t... I can’t tell them. I need you. Please. Call me when you get this message.” I hung up, stricken. I must have looked faint, because Lucas reached out to steady me.

“What’s wrong?” Lucas asked. “Braedyn? What’s going on?!”

“I have to go to Cassie,” I said, and then a tidal wave of rage choked off my words and I couldn’t speak. Lucas grabbed my hand and pulled me back to my car.

“I don’t know where she lives,” he said.

“I’ll drive. You call Royal.” I tossed my cell phone to Lucas. He plucked it out of the air and jumped into the passenger seat. I peeled out of the parking lot, ignoring the posted speed limits. Lucas got Royal on the phone. Their conversation was short and grim. Lucas shot a worried look at me while he talked with Royal.

“Yeah, okay,” he said finally. “We’re on our way over there right now.” Lucas hung up and neither of us said anything for a long moment. Then Lucas slammed his fist against the door, furious. “I keep telling myself the Lilitu are the enemy. Sometimes I forget we have more than enough bad guys in our own species.”

I didn’t take my eyes off the road. Cassie’s apartment was on the other side of town. When I finally pulled to a stop in front of her building, the sun was going down. Their complex was old but comfortable, with only four units. Cassie and her parents lived in the top back unit. I ran around the building and up the metal safety stairs that led to the kitchen door. I knocked, frantic, and Cassie’s mom opened the door. Her face was wrenched with concern.

“She won’t tell me what’s wrong,” she said. “Braedyn, what happened? Do you know?”

“Can I see her?”

Mrs. Han looked torn between needing to know the truth, and hoping I might be able to reach her daughter. “Go.” She stepped aside and I ran to Cassie’s room. It was still locked. I knocked softly.

“Cassie, it’s me. Are you...?” I cut myself off. Of course she wasn’t okay. “Can I come in?” I waited, but heard nothing. “Cass?” After a minute, I heard someone sniffling and saw a shadow moving under the door. I put my hand on the door’s smooth surface. I could almost feel Cassie standing on the other side.

“It’s not a good time,” she said, her voice quivering. “Please leave me alone. And tell Royal... just tell him I need some space, okay?” She flicked off the light and after a minute I heard her bed springs sigh as she laid back down. I tried talking to her through the door, but she didn’t answer me again. After half an hour, her mother finally came and pulled me away gently, eyes filled with questions.

“Does this have something to do with that boy she’s been talking about?” Mrs. Han asked. I met her eyes and she seemed to get all the confirmation she needed. “I could tell she liked him. But I thought... I thought she would be safe with you.”

It was like a knife turning in my gut. I looked at the floor. “She never came over to my place.”

Mrs. Han grew very still, and then nodded slowly. “I see. I see.”

Lucas and I left. The drive back was nearly silent. He got out of the car and didn’t seem to realize I hadn’t turned off the engine until I was pulling away from the curb. “Hey,” he called after me. “Where are you going? Braedyn?”

I drove straight to Parker’s house. I’d been there once before, when we’d had the Progressive Dinner at the end of freshman year. Somehow I found it with only a few wrong turns. I pulled into his driveway and parked my car, too angry to bother locking the doors. I was marching toward the front door when I heard laughter coming from the backyard. There was a side gate. I threw it open and stormed into the middle of another of Parker’s barbecues.

One of his friends saw me and smirked. “Uh oh, vengeance patrol.” The guys watched me approach with knowing smiles. I stopped in front of Parker, who was manning the grill.

He gave me an icy grin. “Cassie must have really enjoyed herself if she’s sending over referrals.” The boys snickered. Parker turned back to the grill, dismissing me.

“I want to talk with you. Alone.” I felt something in my voice, a commanding presence. Parker’s friends stood. One turned for the door to his house.

“Sit down, guys. She doesn’t get to come in here and give orders.” Parker’s eyes didn’t waver. His smile was steely.

“You’re sick, Parker. You’re...” I wanted to hit him. After sparring with Gretchen, I knew exactly where to strike to drop him. I bet that’d wipe the smirk off his smug face. Somewhere deep inside me, a small voice warned me to hold back. “You made her think you liked her. She trusted you and you... you betrayed her.”

“I showed her a good time. I can’t help it if she gets all obsessed over me.” He shrugged, as though he was the victim, not Cassie. “Besides, wasn’t it your idea that I hit on her in the first place? Or don’t you remember being too busy to dance with me at that party I threw for you?”

My vision was changing; I felt like I was looking at Parker through a tunnel. I was only vaguely aware of the other boys around us. “You hurt a really good person.”

“I didn’t force her to go all the way,” he said. “She wanted to. And you’re trespassing on private property, so if you don’t want me to call the cops, you’d better scoot along.” He planted a finger in the middle of my chest and shoved me back. I grabbed it and twisted. Parker howled in surprise and anger. I knew if I added even an ounce more pressure, his finger would snap. I really wanted to do it. It would feel like some small measure of justice... but I released him and left, following the path back out to the side gate. His friends were on their feet now, unsure whether or not it was cool to tackle a girl.