The Five Dimensions Part 1: Shadow World

Chapter 18

Ash parked the car and turned the engine off. The Smith's house was large and free-standing. The spacious garden around it was meticulously well-kept. Loud music and different colored lights were coming from the open front door. There were cars parked all over the street, leaving only a small space for other cars to drive past. There was a line of people waiting to get into the house. Hailey was shocked by the amount of people that were here, she didn't think there were that many at Pinemarsh High. Even Hailey, who was by no means an expert about parties, knew immediately that this was a very successful one.

She turned her focus back to Ash when he asked, "Nervous?"

"Are you?" she asked in return. He looked at her intently and his eyes told her a lot more than he would probably like her to know but he didn't answer out loud.

"Hailey, can I ask you a strange question?" Ash asked instead. Hailey wasn't sure what to say to that. She decided to just nod. "Do you consider yourself to be open minded?"

It was an odd question. He clearly was getting at something, but Hailey couldn't understand what he was possibly trying to say and unfortunately his eyes weren't giving much away either. She gave an evasive answer, "Everyone is open minded compared to the people living in Pinemarsh."

"Okay. But do you think you would do something for the greater good?" All his eyes told Hailey that it was an important question, but she still didn't understand.

"I don't know. I think so." She raised her shoulders uncertainly. Ash's look was still very stern, he was waiting for her to give a solid answer. It wasn't anything she'd ever thought about. She wasn't even sure what greater good meant to her. It was the intent look Ash was giving her that made her answer in the end, although she wasn't quite sure what her answer meant to him. "Yes." He nodded thoughtfully.

"We should get out," he said, although he didn't make any move to open his car door. They were still staring at each other, holding the other's gaze as if something bad would happen if any of them blinked.

When Hailey couldn't keep it up anymore, she nodded, and determinedly opened her own door. The yes she'd said echoed in her mind like she had agreed to something dangerous and was still trying to wrap her head around the consequences. Hailey tried to shake the feeling off; this was becoming too freaky, even for her standard. She stepped onto the sidewalk and waited for the sound of Ash's car door closing.

Luckily, they both managed to leave the tension behind in the car. Ash gave Hailey a mischievous smile and she returned it with a slightly more modest version.

"You are going to have to dance with me, you know," Ash said matter-of-factly, sauntering around the car. The smile fell off her face immediately. She looked at him with shock.

"No, I don't."

"Oh, come on." He grabbed her hand and tried to swing her around, but she stood her ground.

"I cannot dance, and I won't. Besides, who dances at these kinds of things, anyway?" She tried to sound stern and keep her voice steady, but Ash was still holding on to her hand and his touch was clouding her head.

"You don't have to dance, really. Just hold on to me." There was a smile on his face as if he already knew he'd won.

Hailey held herself back from saying, not sure I can do that either, and just shook her head with the slightest smile that she couldn't stop from appearing on her lips. "Sure," she said, trying to sound unconvinced but she knew that Ash would get his way, no matter how much she struggled.

Ash didn't bother standing in line, he skipped right to the front. There were people who protested but Ash didn't take any notice. Hailey didn't recognize most of the people, only when they reached the door, she saw a familiar face. Nolan and Taliyah were third from the front.