"I'm not going anywhere with you," I said with a roll of my eyes. I regretted even trying to talk to her. She was a waste of my time and tolerance. She stepped in front of me, blocking my path.
"It's close by," she went on to say. "Just out toward the creek. It's really not that long of a walk."
"And why would I go?"
A deadpan expression graced her heart shaped face. "Because your boyfriends there. And unless you follow me to that exact location, I'm going to have to signal my friends who have him held up there to do whatever they want with him. He's already badly beaten as it is."
Blood drained from my face at her choice of words. "Don't you dare touch Clyde."
Clyde? I meant Brandon. Brandon was my boyfriend....or at least he was the last time I was aware.
She cocked her head to the side. Pulling out her phone, she flipped to a photo and turned the screen to me. "This isn't Clyde."
I cried out in shock, covering my mouth with my hand at the bruised man on her phone. Crimson rivers of blood dripped down his chin and stained his shirt. The face was too swollen to tell who it really even was. That email he had sent me was not that long ago, how could they have possibly gotten a hold of him all the way from Ireland and to Oregon?
"Now." Amy clicked off the screen and shoved it into her pocket, beaming a sinister grin at me. "Where were we? Oh, right. You're going to the creek with me."
She grabbed for my arm, but I jumped back. "Nabella, don't be stupid. Play nice and I'll even let you talk your boyfriend."
"You don't have him at all, do you?" I realized. "He's not with you. If he is, then call your friends and let me talk to him."
She laughed dryly. "I'm the one who can make deals around here. I have the upper hand." She reached out to touch me, causing my ring to hum loudly. Dodging her grab, I lifted my arm and punched it into the exact location she had scratched me on my face at that hockey match this summer. The stones were awaken, burning into her skin. Smoke rises off the flesh as I pressed the ring in. A sharp wail left as she fell onto the grassy floor. Her phone fell out of her pocket. I dropped down and got it off the ground, stuffing it into my jacket. Not wasting any time for her to get back onto her feet, I disconnected the stone from her cheek--it had been fused into the flesh, imprinting itself deeply. It would definitely scar.
My hands shook as I got to my car and tried to put the right key in. The strange thing was that I quite enjoyed the rush of hurting her. Sliding in to the car at last, I buckled up, roared the car to life, and got myself the hell out of there. Sharp breaths ripped through me. I wasn't sure what had come over me to do what I did. Before, I'd never hurt anyone, and now I had nearly burned the skin right off of Amy.
I needed to call Clyde once I got home. If Brandon is in danger, he's the one who'd know how to help.
You can't, my thoughts snapped at me. He doesn't want to hear about Brandon. Don't you recall anything of what he last said to you? That was true. Clyde had no interest on my issues with Brandon. He'd probably wish he was dead.
My nerves calmed down by the time I pulled into my apartment complex. While getting into my parking spot, I noticed Clyde's car. The moment I stepped out of my car, a figure leaped out the drivers seat and went toward me. It didn't take long to recognize who it was.
Clyde rammed his hands into his front jean pockets, studying the ground. "Are you okay?"
I nodded and told him what had happened on the field earlier. He didn't look very surprised, only humming under his breath as I talked. "Why are you here?" I jumped right to it and asked him, not hesitating for a second.
His eyes were still glued to the floor. "I got an alert you were in danger. I was going to go back on campus to see if you were okay, but the alert faded and I figured you'd be here. Then, Monica called, saying she needed me over here so I thought I might as well stay."
"What?" I was so confused.
"If the alert fades, that means you're out of harms way."
"No, I'm not asking about the alert fading. I'm asking how you knew I'd be on campus."
He glanced up at me. "That's kind of hard to explain. Its a surreal kind of thing. If I ever get in danger, you'll sense it and then you'll know where I mean, but only for a snapshot."
"I'll pass on learning about it how it works. I don't want you in danger." Stepping closer to him, I decrease the distance between us. I spoke in a much more fragile, soft tone. "I miss you. And I really do care about you."
"You clearly don't care enough because you're still stringing along that other guy, disregarding how I feel about it all."
"I haven't spoken to Brandon in a few days now."
He pinched the bridge of his nose, then rubbed eyes, sighing into his hand. "Why should I believe you?"
I squinted at him, honestly taken aback. "You should believe me cause I said so. He hasn't talked to me, he hasn't tried to contact me."
"Oh, so that's why, huh? The moment he drops you, you come running back to me." He laughed humorlessly, pain painting itself over his eyes. "Let's just forget about it and get inside, okay? Monica's waiting for us."
He hadn't clarified on why Monica had asked him to come in the first place. Right now, I didn't want to be anywhere near Clyde. What was with him? He was acting so hurt and betrayed, as if I had never told him about Brandon. I told him about him from the very beginning.
We stayed silent as we both walked to my apartment, keeping a good couple of feet apart from each other. I walked ahead of him, and he trailed behind me not to far off. The front door of our new neighbors door had been left open, letting out bright orange light. It was quite warm earlier today, so maybe he was getting some fresh air by opening the door. For the most part, he was a pretty closed-in kind of neighbor, hardly coming out and rarely looking in our direction. I had never really got a good look on his face, but he looked relatively young. Probably a student as well who went to our college. He never bothered us which was always a plus in my book.
Taking out my key, I unlocked the door and entered the apartment. The living room was completely empty. The coffee table had been kicked over and there was a chair missing at the dinner table.
"Where is she?" Clyde asked.
Hushed conversation from the back rooms down the hallway broke out. She was in her room. Clyde closed the door behind him and followed me down the dim lit hallway that led to the rooms. A bit of light shun out of Monica's room. The conversation grew louder, angrier even.
Clyde moved ahead of me. "Let me go in first."
I stepped aside and did as he asked, giving him room to go right into Monica's room. Creaking the door open, more light spilled out, casting our faces and showing us what was truly going on inside. For the second time today, I covered my mouth in complete shock, not horror like last time. Monica stood before someone I had known quite well. He was tied up in one of the dinner table chairs, with his wrists bound together and tape on his mouth. A deep purple bruise was set under his eyes and blood ran down his brow.
"Trey?" I pushed past Clyde, unable to fathom how Brandon's best friend was here, in the flesh. We hadn't talked since that night before the hockey match. "W..w...what's going on here?"
I glanced at Monica and then Gideon. She was leaning against the wall, arms crossed over her chest. Gideon had a few minor bruises of his own and stood looming over Trey. The collar of his shirt was stretched and the hem was ripped slightly. Gideon was a shorter guy, but he knew how to handle himself in a fight. He was in the wrestling team back in high school and some other sports here and there.
Monica raised her hand that was clasped shot, showing us a little rectangular camera in the center of her palm. "I found this today in the living room. When I found it, I started looking around the entire house for more of them. I located about seven. Then, I went around and moved all of our furniture and you won't believe what I discovered." She gaited to her bed side and slid it over. A hole the size of a quarter had been drilled into her floor with a black cord sticking out. "This chord was connected to a microphone that lead to this guy's place. Not only that but, there's loads of other holes all around the floor and in walls that go straight down to his apartment downstairs.
"I called Gideon soon after I discovered this," she continued. "And we got a hold of the Vander."
"He didn't give up without a fight though," Gideon grumbled, flattening a hand over his ruined shirt. "I didn't think you'd know him though. We've been trying to get him to talk for a while now, but all he's done is scream. That's why we had to tape his mouth shut."
"What's a Vander?" I questioned.
"He a human that's gotten mixed up in our word," Monica explained. "Powerless, but well aware of what we are."
"Take the tape off," I ordered. No one moved. "I said take the goddamn tape off!"
Gideon ripped it off, causing Trey to groan from the pain. Gideon joined Monica on the wall. "He's all yours."
I prepared myself for any answer he might throw at me. Collecting my thoughts, I asked: "Who sent you?"
Gideon's cracked lips twitched into a easy side smile. He was enjoying himself. "Guess."
"The Greeks."
"Be more specific, darling." He hooted a laugh. "Let me give you a hint. He's about six feet tall. Wears glasses. You've been dating him for ages."
He was describing Brandon. I knew he was lying though. He had to be lying. There was no way Brandon was behind this.
"Brandon isn't a part of this world nor would he ever invade my privacy by putting cameras in my home."
"Oh, you're just as stupid as I had thought you'd be. He's been behind all of your attacks and everything that's been going wrong for you here. You know how Brandon works, he likes being one step ahead of everyone. He's not even in college for God sakes. He never left Oregon in the first place."
I held onto the wall, becoming overwhelmed at what I was being told. "No," I shook my head, "That's not true."
"It is though." He dared to go on. "To be fair, he was going to go easy on you at first because he knew that sooner than later, you'd find your second half--like the stories said--and end your relationship with him. But the longer you cheated on him, the more furious you made him. He nearly drank himself to sleep on multiple occasions. I guess he thought you'd do the right thing and tell him. Looks like neither of you really know each other at all, huh?"
"Why is Brandon doing this? This isn't part of the predictions," Gideon said.
"Brandon never liked how the story ended for him. You two aren't the only souls that are being reincarnated. He's not very good at losing. So, he hatched a plan to rewrite his own fate long before he even met you. A fate that originally involved getting you back, but considering the whole infidelity thing, you've been chopped off."
"You can't do that," Monica protested. "The second you try to remold and manipulate what's meant to happen, you're going to only worsen the outcome."
His smile grew. "Not if we find a loophole through the stories."
"A loophole?" Clyde echoed. "What do you mean by that?"
Trey shook his head. "I'm not telling any of you anything more than that."
Clyde put his hand in front of him, facing his palm to Trey's chest. "Tell me now or I'm going to evaporate ever particle of water in your body right now and make a cloud out of your fluids."
"Whoa....you can do that?" I snapped out of my shock and was amazed. If he could really do what he threatened to do. Man, I wish I had powers.
"Anything the skies can do I can do," he replied. "Even on some worthless prick like this guy."
"Why can't I do anything like that?"
"You don't just wake up one day on your birthday with full use of your powers," Monica responded. "It's not like how it is in movies and tv shows. Or at least not for us."
"You have to acknowledge the presents of the gods, showing them you genuinely believe in them and that you respect them. Then, and only then, are you granted with your powers."
"Can we stop with the chit-chat and just finish this guy off already?" Clyde inquired through clenched teeth.
"He's got valuable information," Gideon chimed in. "It would be best if we didn't kill him. Just saying."
A buzzing noise started in my jacket. I patted at he phone, suddenly remembering that it wasn't my phone at all. It was Amy's. Fishing it out, I read off the incoming call. It was unfamiliar number with Portland's area code. I turned the screen to Clyde. "Look. Someone's calling."
He narrowed his eyes at me, not sure what the significant was.
"Its not my phone. It's Amy's. I took it from her when she tried to drag me over to some creek."
Clyde's gorgeous eyes lit up and took the phone from me. "We can't answer it. If they know we have it, they'll find a way to cut the line they're using to call Amy with." He handed the phone over to Gideon. "Get Aaron to find as much information he can get off this phone. Quick. Amy might be trying to contact them now so we need him to work fast before she can warn them."
Gideon nodded and left out the door without saying goodbye. Clyde brought his attention to Monica, asking her to pick up one of his friends at one of the frat houses off the hill. "He'll be a lot of help in trying to get this guy to talk."
"Nothing will work on me," Trey assured us. "You might as well kill me while you have the chance."
"Oh, trust me," Clyde said. "I want to kill you. And I will, but not before I get more information out of you. Then, I'll give you your wish and you'll be out of my hair. For good."
"Last time I checked, the boy wasn't the killing type." Trey gaze moved to me, "The girl, though, was quite the killer, like the stories say."
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