Wraithsong (8 page)

“
So, is Principal Jenkins
like your puppet now?” I ask.

“
No, I’d never call him
that.” He laughs. “Maybe a little, but we both benefit from
our…agreement.”

Before I can ask him what
he means, my phone buzzes in my purse and I stoop to search for it.
Finding it, I check the screen and see that I missed a call from
Ashley, and that it’s ten minutes until I’m supposed to meet her at
the Mall to get a dress for the prom. Crap! “Well, it’s been a
pleasure, Anthony, but I have another appointment I have to get
to.” I don’t really want to leave, but I’ll be darned if I cancel
an appointment with Ashley for she would never let me forget
it.

Anthony moves up in front
of me and blocks my way out of the rotunda. My immediately pulse
quickens. I look up into his spellbinding eyes and have to catch my
breath as blood rushes to my head. My stomach flutters like mad and
I really enjoy being this close to him—only a foot away. He takes a
small step toward me and now he’s standing only a few inches away.
I wonder if he feels the electricity between us like I do, but it’s
more than that. The way I feel about him is like the beginning of
an obsession, and I’m not sure whether or not it truly is me, or
even if I like it. It’s almost too intense.

“
Thanks for coming. I
hope—” He grows serious. “I hope we can be great—” He steps so
close to me that I can feel his breath on my face. I hold my
breath, afraid, no not afraid, only anxious and excited about what
might happen, and though I’m not quite sure what’s happening
between us, I’m acutely aware that every particle in my body
responds to him.

Then my mind starts racing
when I think about how much I want him, to kiss his lips, to feel
his hands on my body. Would he be worth having around for eternity?
Maybe. No. Absolutely. Something takes over, and it’s not the
rational part of me. The will to put on the brakes is lost in his
eyes, and it’s as if the Huldra in me takes over, preventing me
from having reasonable thoughts. If I leave just a hint of my
saliva on him, he might want me more. It would be wrong, but I
can’t stop myself now—I have to go through with it. I raise myself
up onto my tiptoes and kiss him gently on the cheek, leaving a
trace of wetness. I don’t expect him to react the way he does, but
I can tell from his reaction that he definitely likes the kiss—a
lot. He swings me around, pushes me up against the wall by my
shoulders, locking me immobile, and stares into my eyes. My heart
is pounding in my chest and I want him to kiss me on the lips, but
instead, he leans down and kisses my collarbone. Then he kisses a
trail up my neck and I lift my chin to give him space. I moan. His
eyes fall upon my lips and then his fingers press against them. His
breath is shallow, his lips parted, his eyes—hungry.

Releasing my shoulder and
lips, he grabs my hips and presses them back and up against the
wall. Then his hands continue around to my back and for a moment he
hesitates, and doesn’t seem certain about what to do.

He pulls back, looks at me
and then looks away. “I’m sorry, I…I don’t know what came over me,”
he says and picks up the scroll on the table. “Here, I’ll walk you
downstairs.” He stands to the side, waiting for me to
pass.

I feel excited,
disappointed, shocked even, but something has awakened in me that
I’ve never felt before, and I absolutely love it.

Chapter 7

I see Ashley in the
distance, standing outside of a department store, talking on her
phone. Once I arrive, she hangs up and we hug.

“
So, how was your lunch
date?” she asks. We head into the department store toward the
formal dress section.

“
It was good. Anthony made
chicken salad sandwiches and lemonade,” I say.

She gives me a blank stare.
“I don’t care about the food. How was Anthony?”

I smile like it was just
another lunch appointment. “He’s good.” I nod as casually as I can,
pretending that my heart doesn’t beat twice as fast at the mention
of his name. Thinking back to the moment when I kissed him on the
cheek and he kissed me on the collarbone makes me weak in the
knees, but it also strikes me with guilt because I shouldn’t have
given into my urge to kiss him. Sadly, now I’ll never know whether
or not he likes me for me, and not because my flair is controlling
him. I really wish I was just a normal girl.

“
Are you going to make me
pry out the information? Give me the juicy details, Sonia.” We
arrive at the formal dress section and Ashley leafs through the
dresses like she’s a professional shopper.

I laugh. “We had a great
time. He didn’t kiss me, but we hugged.”

“
That’s sweet.” Her rounded
eyebrows rise.

“
Yeah, it was.” I refrain
from telling her the rest of what happened and that it was the most
romantic experience of my life so far, and that all I want is to be
back in his room with his arms wrapped around my waist.

“
So did you ask your mom
about the prom yet?”

“
No, I thought I’d get my
dress first, and then maybe if she sees how great I look in it,
she’ll let me go.”

Ashley nods proudly. “Now
you’re talking.”

“
What about the other
stags?” I ask. “Are any of them going?”

“
Yes, they all think it’s a
great idea.”

I wish I were going with
Anthony, for after what happened today, I know I’ll get jealous
when I see him dancing with another girl.

“
What’s the matter?” Ashley
asks.

“
What? Oh, nothing.” I
mumble.

“
Yeah, right, you look like
you’ve just been told the world is going to end!”

Part of me wants to accept
another boy’s invitation just so I don’t have to be so alone and
focus on Anthony with his date all night. “If I said yes to one of
the guys who asked me—” I let my voice trail off as I rummage
through the dresses.

“
What do you mean you would
say yes? Just so you could make Anthony jealous?”

I know it sounds bad, but I
still nod.

“
Seriously?” Her expression
turns judgmental. “Sonia, you know I love you, right?”

“
Yes.” I feel a lecture
coming on.

“
That suggestion is just
cruel.”

“
How cruel?”

“
Think of
it like this. If Anthony went to the prom with you
just
so he could be
close to another girl he liked better than you—”

I interrupt her. “Okay,
okay, I see what you mean. I’m ashamed.”

Ashley laughs. “Good, at
least you have some sense of conscience, though you are a little
selfish sometimes.”

I frown, wishing I wasn’t
that way, but I know she’s right—especially lately. Things have
just gotten to be so confusing, and my relationship with my mom has
become extremely challenging. My mom and I have a very open
relationship, or so I thought, and now I just think she’s been
keeping way too many secrets, and it’s probably way worse than I
suspected. I’m almost eighteen—practically an adult; I have the
right to go to the prom. I look at Ashley.

“
What?” she
says.

I throw my head back and
sigh. “Sometimes I just wish I was someone else.”

“
All girls do at some
point, I’m sure. If you really want me to cover for you and you go
with one of the guys, I’ll do it.”

I consider it for a moment,
but decide against it. “No, you’re right, it would be extremely
cruel.”

Chapter 8

“
I’ll let you go to the
prom on a few conditions.” My mom’s face is flushed and she’s
frowning. I know that my mom isn’t upset about the money I spent,
even though my prom dress cost almost a thousand dollars. No, she’s
upset because I disobeyed her and made plans to go to the prom
without her consent.

“
I
understand that you want this to be a part of your life
experience—I get that. Prom is important and maybe I’ve been too
strict on you. So, you may go
solo,
but you must promise me that
you won’t kiss anyone,” she says.

“
Okay,” I say with some
surprise, since convincing her was much easier than I anticipated,
but I can barely look her in the eyes, afraid she might see right
through me that I kissed Anthony on the cheek.

“
One more thing, you have
to be home by midnight,” she says.

“
Midnight? What, is this
like Cinderella or something? That’s ridiculous. Mom, I won’t kiss
anyone even if I stay out until 6:00 a.m. three days after the
prom, I promise.” I re-commit myself to not kissing anyone, at
least not until I turn eighteen. I’m still not going to mention
that just earlier today I kissed Anthony on the cheek and that he
kissed me on my collarbone and that now he’s under my thrall. I
feel a pang of regret, but can’t help that the edges of my lips
involuntarily curve upward at the thrilling memory.

“
This isn’t a joke!” My
mom’s voice is trembling with fury. I’m a little shocked because
she’s usually very calm, so much so that I’ve often wondered if she
feels anything at all.

“
Sonia, trust me, you don’t
understand the strong and uncontrollable urges you’ll begin to
experience as you near your eighteenth birthday. I’m sure you have
already started to notice them a little, but these next two weeks
will be the hardest. You could lose control and cause a lot of
damage, and you don’t want to play with that kind of fire, for it
will come back to haunt you for the rest of your life.”

I think back to the moment
with Anthony, and I certainly have tasted some of the wickedly
awesome urges that my Huldra side has brought out in me. I convince
myself I’ll be able to control them if I really put my mind to it.
Besides, it’s different with Anthony—he has been the only one so
far who has brought the passionate impulses out in me, but since he
won’t be my prom date anyway, not kissing anyone on the prom night
should be a breeze—no problem.

“
You
won’t be able to control your impulses to, excuse my bluntness,
seduce young men if you find any of them even remotely attractive
and if that happens, there will be a lot of unfortunate events
afterwards. Trust me, you do
not
want to go down that path,” my
mom says.

“
Why are you so vague all
the time? Can’t you just tell me so I understand?” It angers me
that I’m always in the dark. “What difference does a few days make
in explaining this to me?”

“
No, I can’t tell you. It
has to happen during the ceremony in Kensington, and in the right
order. If you won’t agree to the terms of the prom, you’re not
allowed to go, and that’s final.”

I know my mom won’t budge
on this. “Fine!” I grab my prom dress and march to my room. What
does she really know about being a teenager in this day and age
anyway?

In my room, I angrily stuff
the dress into the closet and pull out a book. As soon as I open
it, my phone rings and I answer it.

“
Hello?”

“
Hey, it’s me, Anthony. Got
a minute?”

Rolling over onto my back,
I start playing with the ends of my hair. I feel a flutter in my
stomach that appears every time I’m around Anthony. “Sure,” I say,
my heart beating more fervently. I can’t help but smile because my
flair must have worked on him though I’m not sure if I’m happy or
upset with myself about it.

“
I wanted to apologize for
earlier—I don’t know what came over me, but I hope we can still be
friends?”

Immediately, all the
happiness is sucked out of me. “Was it that disappointing?” I kick
myself for talking before thinking, but his comment stings. He’s
apologizing? Didn’t he feel the attraction between us—and what
happened to my Huldra flair? Surely I must have left enough saliva
on his cheek to have him want me, even just a little. I do feel
slightly relieved, I must admit, but I also feel as though I have
failed as a Huldra. “I mean…yeah, I guess what happened was
somewhat of out of the blue.” I flip over onto my stomach, squeeze
my eyes shut and press my palm to my forehead.

“
So just friends then?” he
asks, sounding unsure of himself. Maybe it’s my flair kicking
in.

I don’t want to answer him,
but the words have to be spoken. “Sure, whatever—”

“
Good, and I think it’s
best if we don’t work together anymore either—on the weeding, so
I’ll just take it from here.” He almost sounds happy about his
decision. I’m speechless. What happened? “Is that all right?”
Anthony says, now sounding surer of himself.

Then an idea suddenly
flashes through my mind. I want to try and see if my kiss actually
worked, to see if my Huldra flair is as powerful as my mom and dad
said. Maybe I have to request or demand something from him so he
knows what I want? “Hey, I really want for us to continue to work
together on the weeding until we’re finished, okay?”

It goes silent on the other
end.