Airborne (2 page)

“Sorry, select invites only.” Nathanial finally acknowledged Avery’s existence only to give her a cool glare through pretty boy long lashes.

Face heating, Avery clenched her fists before she could overreact. Turning back to the man behind her, she gave him a stiff glare.

“I’ll see you tonight Leela.” He said.

Avery rolled a few choice words around in her mouth but ended up swallowing them. She nodded as politely as her tight muscles allowed. Without another word, Nate turned on his heels and headed back for the gaggle of congregating students. Shifting the heavy duffle bag over her tense shoulders, Avery turned her attention back to the dormitory.

“Forget about it.” She told Leela grudgingly while knowing full well this was a battle just beginning.

Her friend rejoined her side and then together they walked through the last gate into Crepuscule Hall and began the year that’d change her life.

Two

“Party that lame or did you just forget something?” Avery swung her dorm door open mid-rant and abruptly froze.

Rocking back on her pink slippers, she looked over her unexpected guest. Where she’d been expecting Leela, a tall man stood. At least six foot seven, he barely would have fit through the door frame. She didn’t recognize the face beneath the mop of brown hair, but she recognized the heavy parka and the wide shoulders. It was the man from the top of the stairs. Closer up, she could see distinctive details. His skin was soft but his jaw line was sharp making him look both young and old at the same time. She couldn’t peg his age. His jade green eyes studied her in return.

“Uh. Hi.” Somewhere in the surprise, she’d almost forgotten her manners.

“This yours?” He slid a card out of his jacket’s pocket and handed it over. Avery took a moment to identify the blue index card with her name printed in bold.

“My assignment.” It clicked in her head. Shutting her open mouth, she nodded gratefully and put it on her nightstand. “Thanks. I forgot that Morrison would have it brought down.”

It’d become so late that she hadn’t expected anyone but Leela. In fact, she suddenly regretted answering the door in her pajama slacks, oversized t-shirt, and bunny slippers. Subtly losing the slippers, she kicked them to the corner.

“So you’re Avery Zane? I’ve seen you before. My name’s Mason, I’m new here.” It sounded forced like a practiced line for a shy person and characteristic of a painful conversation, he smiled but refused to open his mouth all the way. Not that Avery felt offended. So far, he seemed more like a kindred spirit.

“Yea, at the stairs earlier today. So you’re on as staff here?”

“Uh, something like that.” He paused for a moment of thick silence. Before she could think of anything else to say, he asked, “So your roommate’s gone?”

“Oh yea. She’s at…” Avery stopped herself. Leela was at the party but that wasn’t exactly a detail she’d tell to a staff member. Worse yet, he was new and would likely sell them out in a heartbeat. “She’s just out. She’ll be back before curfew.”

They both glanced at the wall clock in the same moment. Leela had exactly fourteen minutes to book it across dorms.

“Well thanks for bringing my assignment by. If you see Morrison, thank her for me too.” Avery leaned back, changing her body motions stiffly to end the conversation. While any other time, she wouldn’t mind having a nice chat with a pretty boy, tonight friends came first. She wouldn’t let Leela get busted and blame her for it the rest of the year.

Feigning a yawn, she murmured, “Nice meeting you. Have a good night.”

“Wait.” He held his hand out to stop the door from shutting. “Would you mind taking a walk with me?” He asked in the next second.

“What? Like a date?” It slipped before she could stop it. With her face flushing, Avery mentally cursed herself for being so tactless. “I don’t think we can date staff.” She said immediately in the best joking tone she could. Whether or not he bought it, she couldn’t tell. His face hadn’t changed much from the same placid stare.

“Just like a walk. We won’t get caught. You won’t get in trouble being out after curfew.” He said.

Her face still hot, she nodded. A walk with a staff member, cute or not, couldn’t hurt.

“Okay, just uh gimme one minute.” She stuck a single finger in the air until he backed up to clear the doorway. As soon as she closed it for him, she rushed for her phone. Ripping her sheets apart, she snatched up the blue device from its hiding spot.

Leela was on speed dial and the phone started to ring before Avery even brought it to her ear. With her free hand, she dug through her duffle bag. With advanced notice, she would have laid out something alluring, but with thirty seconds or less, she had to settle for her nice dark jeans and a black tank top.

“Stupid girl, answer your phone.” She hissed a second before Leela’s voicemail came on. Something this cool never happened to Avery, and Leela would pick this moment not to pick up. Giving up, she tossed it back on the bed.

Stripping off her pajamas, she changed and threw her hair up in a messy bun. Most days, she’d have stared at the mirror for an hour trying to cover up the freckles on her cheeks. Today, she embraced them reluctantly and focused on framing them with her bangs.

He had posted himself up against the opposite wall when she came out. From here, he looked even lankier with his legs stretched out and folded. She did a quick check of the hallway before announcing her presence. This late at night, the corridors were empty and only the staff would eventually meander through the halls. Morrison always wore thick heels that would clack on the carpeted floor so that any student would have to be stupid to not hear her coming. Idly thinking, Avery began to wonder if Mason would be the same. So far, he wasn’t scolding students but inviting them out to wander around.

“Yea, you and everyone else.” She rolled her eyes over dramatically. “I can’t have been the only person outside of Alaska before.”

The first official day hadn’t even started yet and she was already sick of talking about it.

“No, I’ve been to California too. In fact, I was there this very summer.”

“Seriously? That’s awesome… Wait.” She paused, distracted, before they reached the end of the hall. In front of them was the fire escape door. The hot red letters adorned on it reminded everyone it couldn’t be used except in emergencies.

“We can’t go out this way.” She told him.

While the door wasn’t hooked up to an alarm, no one would ever sneak out this way. Outside were steep blocky stairs that led down straight into the forest. From there, the campus was a good twenty minute walk back after having to twist up the hill through the woods first. This exit never had any lights either. At night, the path was pitch black and treacherous.

“You want to get caught?”

“I’d sooner get caught than die.” Her voice broke and she turned away. An ugly feeling crept up her spine and she watched the empty hallway. Avery wasn’t afraid of the dark but there was also no way she’d take a creepy trip out at night either.

“I’ll make sure nothing gets you. Come on.” He said but his voice sounded anything but reassuring. In fact, he bit off the words harshly. Muscles drawing together tightly, his entire posture changed. The transition happened in a heartbeat. Avery never got a chance to properly react.

He abruptly lashed out and caught her shoulder. Spinning her, he whirled her towards the exit and with a sharp push, knocked her forward. She stumbled into the door and it tipped open from her weight.

“I had to follow you all the way to this bloody place, you stupid thief. You understand how much time this cost me!” He roared.

“Stop it!” She hollered when he pushed her again.

Outside, her heel slipped on the first blocky step and sent her sprawling. No railing to brace herself, Avery landed on her elbows hard. She struggled to stand, panic making her clumsy. Her thoughts were minimized to two simple sentences: Bad situation and must get out.

“Where is it?” He demanded. “I’ll tear apart your whole room if I have to. Where is it?”

Somewhere in his rage, he stopped paying attention. She got her balance, stood up, and bolted down the stairs. Gravity and momentum helped. By the time he began to pursue, she’d reached the last step and ran into the forest. The thick roots threatened to knock her over again but adrenaline kept her on her feet. His footsteps finally thundered down the same path but he didn’t follow her into the forest.

“You can’t run. Hear me out.”

The absolute firmness of his words made her slow. She slipped behind a tree and slammed her back up against the rough bark. The moonlight didn’t shine through the thick canopy and the visibility where she stood dropped to zero. Unsure if she should even take her chances with Alaskan wilderness over him, she gave it a minute. Common sense telling her that he would get her to talk to locate her position, Avery stayed quiet. He waited a moment before speaking again while indicating he’d probably thought of the same thing.

“This is about when you were in California. I told you before. I was at the very same beach, the very same night. The fourth of July.”

At first, Avery spit out a confused “what?” before she thought about it. She had been in California all summer, not just Fourth of July, but she couldn’t deny that night had been particularly strange. That was the night she was on the beach and collecting sea shells. One specific shell had caught her eye as it washed up on the foamy waves during high tide. Driven by an unusual impulse, she’d snatched it up. Once the odd looking shell touched her palm, it’d stung. She’d dropped it quickly only to find that it’d injured her right hand and left a bizarre bruise. It was the same bizarre bruise she still had. Other than the sole instance, nothing else about the night stood out. She didn’t meet anyone, she didn’t see anything, and she definitely didn’t take part in something strange.

“So what?” She asked, at least giving him her full attention again.

“That night my boss dropped a pendant. It was a shiny black pendant off the coast. This pendant has a particular way to be found again. I tracked it to the where it washed up in the surf and then I tracked it to Seward, Alaska. I tracked it back to you.”

Her mind processing slowly, she took a minute before she drew her hand up to her face. The bandage had partially unwrapped to reveal her palm. Before Avery even considered the possibly, she curled her hand back into her chest.

“I need it back, and I won’t be the only person looking for it. I’ll take it from you nicely but these other people will hurt you for it.” Mason had kept talking.

She didn’t believe her own ears. It sounded like a line from the movies after she just stumbled upon the mob boss’s family brooch and now became a mark. The seriousness of the statement didn’t escape her either. She let out a deep breath.

“I don’t have it. Even if I picked it up I don’t have it. I left everything at the beach.” She wouldn’t be above begging him to believe it.

He didn’t answer. Only the quiet rustling of the forest filled up the silence. The wind picked up off the water and blew through the trees. Growing cold, Avery wrapped her arms around herself. She listened for the crunching of leaves or the snapping of twigs. While she’d picked a disadvantaged point of view from which she could only stare in front of her, she could hear him if he got closer.

“Then come out of the woods and prove it. I’m not going to hurt you.” He said after a tense moment.

“No way.” She said promptly. She may have been naïve, but she was not insane.

“If you just give me what I want, then I’ll leave. Believe me. If I wanted to do anything, I could have done it before.”

The rational part of her brain held out on believing him, but then she also knew it’d be a nightmare staying in the forest. If she had any intention of crawling out back towards the school, she’d be doing it in the dark. Opting to cooperate, at least temporarily, she called out.