***So I'm pretending it's Tuesday already and uploading early! I'm only off by an hour! I'm just too excited for this chapter!!!1***
Seven
Five weeks. That’s how long passed with nothing, no word from Damon, Ari, or Hector. I wasn’t really expecting anything, but I was hoping. God, was I hoping.
Because my life was totally boring without having them in it. And I only knew them for a day.
This was my routine: wake up, get dressed, go to school, come back home with Molly and Lee in tow, homework, eat dinner, play with Sammy, bed. And it would start over the next day. It was like I was in an endless cycle of boring.
That day that I’d come home from school after being gone for a week, Wendy had burst into tears when I walked through the door and hugged the life out of me while Sammy clung to my legs.
“Why did you leave?” she’d cried when she finally let go of me. Tom was behind her, shaking his head at his wife’s crazy display. “You know I would have let you hide from Lee in the house if you told me you needed to!”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have run off like that. And I won’t do it again.”
She sniffled, wiping under her eyes. "You'd better not."
So after that, I was unofficially grounded, in a sense.
Wendy barely let me leave the house, but I was still allowed to have Molly and Lee over, thank goodness. Yeah, I would have loved hanging out with Sammy, but my IQ would have dropped to that of a two year old if I watched any more of his kiddy shows on television.
Wendy was actually letting me out of the house the Friday night of the homecoming football game and dance. Molly, like she did any other time we had a school dance, came over to my house so we could get ready together. She was the one who picked out my dress for me. It was white satin that poofed out to the top of my knees and rhinestones completely covered the bust. Paired with some strappy silver heels, my hair in soft curls down my back, and only a little bit of makeup, I was ready to go.
"Lee's already there, right?" I asked Molly as we walked toward her lime green VW Bug at the end of my driveway.
She rolled her eyes at me as she straightened the skirt of her hot pink dress. "He's on the football team, Persie. Of course, he's already there. He never left after school," she said, and then wrinkled her nose. "He's going to smell awful after the game, just like he always does. He’d better take a shower after."
Lee was the wide receiver on the team. He was pretty good, I guess. I had no clue about football, though. He'd tried to explain it to me before, but I didn't get it at all. He was apparently pretty good because a couple of big colleges were looking at him for a football scholarship.
The parking lot was already packed when we got there. Apparently we'd missed about half the game, but that was fine with me. I didn't want to sit around watching sweat guys chasing after a ball. Molly just went to check them all out.
Once we were inside the stadium, you could tell where the student section was by the dressed up girls and guys. It was hard trying to get down the steps in my heels, but I somehow managed to get to the bottom where the railing was without falling.
They were apparently in a time out, the only thing I knew about the game since they weren't on the field playing. Lee was listening to the coach, his hair dripping with sweat and down his face. He looked, and probably smelled, disgusting, but I couldn't help but admit that he was adorable in his uniform.
His eyes lifted and met mine. A smile spread across his face as he snuck away from the huddle and ran across the track to where I was standing against the railing.
"What are you doing, stupid?" I asked, grinning down at him. "You've got a game to win, you know."
He laughed. "I know," he said. "Did you guys just get here? Because you've kind of missed half of the game."
"You know Molly. She takes forever getting ready and getting me ready."
His eyes took in my dress and everything else. There was that look I hated...
"You look incredible," he said, smiling up at me.
"Thanks," I said.
"Fletcher!" Coach yelled from the sidelines. "Get your ass on the field!"
"Go on," I laughed, nodding toward the field.
"I didn't get my good luck kiss at the beginning of the game," Lee said. "Can I get it now?"
I rolled my eyes again and leaned down toward him. Just like I knew he would, he smelled awful, sweat, dirt, and grass. Lee basically climbed up the side of the wall and to the railing. Planting a soft kiss to my cheek, he stayed there a little longer than I wanted him to. I put my hand against his shoulder pads and pushed him back down.
"Go," I laughed.
He smiled and started running back onto the field, putting his helmet back on his head.
We won the game. I'm sure anyone within a five mile radius could have heard all of the cheering when we made the winning touchdown at the last second. Even Molly was jumping up and down, screaming, though she knew as much as I did about the game.
After all of the excitement died down, all of the students were heading up to the gym, where they were holding the dance. Since we lived in a small town, it was the biggest place that would hold the entire population of the school...all two hundred and fifty-four of us.
Molly and I were standing at the doors of the gym, waiting for Lee to come up from the field house where he was getting showered and dressed. When we started seeing the football players walking toward us, we knew he wouldn't be much longer.
One of the guys had a girl on his arm. She had to be a little older than us and she was smiling seductively up at him. He was looking at her like he didn't really know what was going on.
Her hair was what really caught my attention. It was bright red, like fire on top of her head. She had a body to die for, like the ones you see in the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated. Her skin tight, black snake print dress emphasized every curve.
It was her eyes that startled me the most. They were electric green and were slit like a snake's. She was staring at me with that same predatory gaze as she was giving the guy.
"Love your dressss," she said as she passed by me. Why did it sound like she hissed?
Molly and I both turned to watch her walk into the gym. Molly seemed just as creeped out by her as I was.
"Those have to be contacts," she said, shaking her head as she continued to stare at the girl.
"What?" I asked.
She looked over at me. "Her eyes. Did you see the color? That's totally not natural."
An arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me against a hard chest. And then lips were at my ear. "What's not natural?" Lee's voice sounded in my ear.
"That girl's eyes," Molly said, acting like Lee's display was totally normal. "They were creepy." She perked up then and smiled. "But now that you're here, we can finally go in!"
Lee held out both of his arms and Molly and I looped ours through his. Doing his best strut, Lee walked us into the gym. I laughed and shook my head as his theatrics and he looked down at me and winked.
There were silver and blue balloons and streamers everywhere when we walked in. I had to admit that the dance committee did a pretty good job with the decorations. It hardly even looked like our gym.
Molly was complaining about being thirsty, so she headed toward the refreshment table.
"Hopefully someone spiked the punch," she said before she went. "I could use a drink after seeing that girl's eyes."
The DJ started playing a slow song then and Lee smiled suggestively at me. I sighed and let him drag me onto the dance floor. He wrapped me in his arms and laid his forehead against mine as we started swaying to the song. We were pressed closer together than almost all of the couples who were actually dating.
"So, did I tell you that you look incredible tonight?" Lee asked.
I laughed. "Yeah, and you look a lot better than what you did before. And definitely smell better. When you're playing, it's just downright awful."
Lee snorted, leaning back so I could see him roll his eyes. "Whatever," he said.
I laughed again and leaned my head against his cheek. I closed my eyes for just a moment, but then I got this feeling.
A feeling of being watched.
I opened my eyes and they landed right on the girl with the flaming red hair. She grinned at me...and I had to blink to make sure what I was seeing as real. Her teeth had sharpened into points. They seemed to glitter in the light of the gym. But when I blinked again, they were gone, replaced by normal teeth.
"Um," I said, stepping away from Lee. "I'm...uh...I'm going to go to the bathroom."
"Are you okay?" Lee asked, his eyebrows furrowed in worry. "You don't look so good. You just got really pale."
I swallowed hard, looking back at the girl. She was talking with the guy that she'd come in with, but glancing at me every few moments.
"Yeah," I said, nodding. "I'm just going to go to the bathroom. Tell Molly that I'll be there, okay?"
Before he could say anything else, I rushed toward the gym doors and went out into the hallway.
It was dim since there were only a few lights lit every few feet or so. The shadowy areas were creeping me out because I felt like I was being watched. I pretty much ran the rest of the way, closing the door quickly behind me once I was inside and locking it for good measure.
I walked over toward the sinks and turned one on. I grabbed a few paper towels, ran it under the cold water, and pressed it to my forehead. Leaning back against the wall and closing my eyes, I tried to calm my heart and my stomach or I would have been sick.
"Well, look who we have here," a voice said from in front of me. "Missss Perssssephone."
My eyes popped open and landed on the redheaded girl. My heart was pounding in my chest and I swallowed hard.
"Hello," I said. My voice shook.
Her smile widened...showing her sharpened teeth. Or should I say fangs?
"Well, I must ssssay this will be a firsssst, killing a woman," she said, stepping closer to me. "It sssshould be fun."
I tried to take a step back, but then I realized I was already against the wall.
"That mortal boy you were with," she said. "He would be fun to kill alsssso."
The air around her seemed to shimmer. And with it, she changed.
The first thing I noticed was her hands. Before, they just looked normal, but now they were made of bronze. She flexed her fingers, curling them into fists as she took another step toward me. Her teeth, like before, were fangs now and her eyes were that same electric green, slit like a snake's.
But her hair...I tried blinking a few times to make my brain register what I was seeing.
Where there was once flaming red hair, it was replaced with the same color red...snakes. They moved all around her head like they were a part of her, attached to her. All fifty or so of them had their eyes on me. Their tongues slithering out, tasting the air. And when she smiled, they smiled too.
And with that, I ran.
Bolting toward the door, I could hear her chase after me. Before she could reach me, I had it unlocked and was out before she could even reach me.
I ran somehow pretty fast in my heels. But when I tried to turn the corner going back to the gym doors, I slid and almost fell if arms hadn't caught me.
"Whoa, Persie?" Lee asked, looking down at me. "What's going on?"
He and Molly had apparently just been walking out, probably to come find me.
"That girl..." I started, out of breath. "She...her hands...her teeth...her hair...snakes...."
"What are you talking about?" Molly asked, looking confused.
"I get mortalssss now, too?" the girl's voice hissed from over Lee's shoulder. "Excellent."
My eyes immediately landed on her. She was standing in front of the gym doors, the snakes on her head hissing.
"Oh, God," I said. I started pulling Molly and Lee away from her. "Come on! She's right there!"
We started running down the hallway, trying to get away from the girl as fast as we could. But she always seemed to be on our tail. I could hear the hissing of the snakes and her laughter as she chased us passed all of the darkened classrooms.
"Those are...are..." Molly huffed as we ran.
"Snakes," I answered.
"You can't run for long," she yelled after us.
"Go to the cafeteria! There's only one way in!" Lee said.
I didn't think I could run any faster than I already was in my heels. But when we finally got to the doors of the cafeteria, I thought we actually might have had a chance to get away from her. We bolted inside and Lee immediately closed and locked the doors.
I could finally breathe.
"What in the hell is she?" Lee asked, looking at me.
"What are you looking at me for? Like I know!" I said.
A ghostly chuckle circled around us and my heart started pounding even more than it already was. Oh, no...
It was her.
"Sssso ssssilly," her voice said before she seemed to appear out of thin air in front of us. "You think you can get away that eassssily?"
She bared her teeth, ready to attack, but then a deep, rumbling growl sounded from behind us and a dark figure jumped over our heads, missing us by mere inches. The snake girl was tackled to the ground by the huge black dog on top of her. He growled again.
"Castor!" I yelled, relieved and surprised to see the hound here in my school's cafeteria.
"Get the mortals out of here!" a deeper voice said.
I turned to see Hector and Ari dragging Molly and Lee back toward the doors leading toward the kitchens. They were both yelling, kicking, trying to get away from Hector and Ari, but they barely did any good.
"Persie!" Lee yelled.
But I wasn't looking toward them anymore. Because with Hector and Ari, I knew that my best friends would be safe.
"Who sent you?" Damon's voice growled.
I turned to see him holding the snake girl up against the wall by her neck. Her snakes were lashing out at his hand and wrist, but they didn't even puncture the skin. Castor was circling behind him, growling as he stared her down.
"Ah, Hadessss," she hissed, grinning. "It'ssss good to ssssee you. How long hassss it been? A couple of decadessss?"
"Tell me who sent you, Stheno," he said, slamming her head against the concrete wall. It made a crack run up the wall.
She chuckled. "You'd better watch out for your girl. There are more of ussss to come."
And with that she dissolved into thin air, shimmering and folding in on herself until Damon was clutching nothing but empty air.
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