Book of Love (17 page)

“
Someone that easily
persuaded can’t possibly love you. Pathetic dreaming is what it
is.” His steps behind me were confident. “The sooner you see this,
the sooner you can move on, and I can kill her, like I meant to
long ago.”

I spun, thrusting my finger at him. “If you
kill her, I’ll kill myself, and you know what that means.” I slid
my finger across my throat.

“
Oh,
won’t that be
lovely?
Then we can all be truly
dead
together.” He
laughed.

I knew he would say that.
I considered it for a moment. If I did finally die, and she did as
well, it is true that we would be together forever in the
afterlife, but she did not deserve to die. It was for that very
reason that I’d saved her to begin with. Jane needed to live. She
deserved to have what was taken from me—
life.

“
Leave me alone,” I
grumbled. I walked to my room, slamming the door behind me. It did
little to stop him from appearing in front of me, a cloud of smoke
dissipating into the air around him.

“
I hate our fighting,
Brother. We’ve been like this our whole lives. Can’t we just get
along?” Greg was pouting, but I knew it was all for
show.

“
That’s
not true, Greg, and you know it. I tried to be your friend and your
brother long ago, when we were
alive.
Remember? So, don’t tell me I
didn’t try. You never wanted to be happy, that was the real
problem. You enjoyed the pain, even then.” I grabbed a flask from
the table and poured a drink. I shot the liquid down my throat and
it burned with a delightful release of anxiety. I winced, enjoying
the feeling of heat, no matter what the cost.

I threw the glass in the fireplace and
flames came to life, filling the room with subtle warmth. I turned
back to Greg, but he was gone. Exhaling, I walked to the large bed
and sat, putting my head in my hands. I tried to calm my pounding
head. I was tired of this, tired of the fight. I wished there was a
way to be rid of Greg for good. I rubbed my eyes and reached in my
pocket, finding the ring. How could I give this to her? How could I
make Jane wear it when she barely knew me? It would seem like I was
coming on too strong.

I let it sit on my palm. This would keep her
thoughts safe beyond the existing power that keeps him from killing
her. As long as I stay with her, protecting her, he cannot harm
her, but he can still torment her thoughts as he had in her dream.
I know he means to drive me mad that way. He wants to force me to
stop watching her so he can get his claws in, but I never will. No
matter what emotional pain I have to endure, I will always be her
angel.

I put the ring back into my pocket, afraid
that Greg would re-appear and see that I had it. Once it’s on her
person, there is nothing he can do to get it back. It was an
ancient heirloom that had been passed down through the alchemist’s
family, from a time when magick was volatile, as it was now. The
alchemist knew that his potions were never safe from prying minds,
and he had to find a way to protect his most precious thoughts.

It held a sense of peace inside it,
something Greg couldn’t understand. It was warm to the touch, and
in my pocket it radiated against my leg. Her head needed to be
clear. I needed to know that if she could love me, it was for
real.

Jane:

After the whirlwind first week of school,
where Max and his illusive brother made a larger impression on the
student body than I ever could have expected, the week that
followed paled in comparison. Wes and Emily continued to give me
the silent treatment that had started last Friday in the front
yard, and Max had been absent from school with no explanation.
Though I’d wanted nothing more than to meet his brother Greg after
that dream I’d had, he too seemed to be absent. I knew that when I
did finally meet Greg, and if he looked exactly like the Greg I’d
seen in my dream, then my dreams were more than just my
imagination, but fact. I shivered, because if that happened, it
meant that all the other dying people I saw there were also real,
adding a whole new twist to what I thought was only fantasy.

I pulled the seat back in Wes’s car,
glancing at Emily as she climbed in the backseat. She was different
somehow, but I couldn’t quite decide what it was. As she sat, her
eyes avoided mine, hiding something from me as they had all week. I
looked at Wes, but he also looked away from me. I knew he was upset
with me. His continued foreseen death involving me as the murderer
hadn’t faded, but it wasn’t just that. His obvious avoidance
harbored another sort of emotion than hate.

I sat back against the seat and looked out
the window, watching the fog of my breath film the glass. It was
another sweet Friday, and I was at least thankful to have two weeks
of my senior year under my belt. My fears that Max knew about the
dream pressed my mind. I blamed it for his disappearance from my
life. What other explanation could there be for his absence from
school, especially in the second week? I’d thought we’d hit it off,
but the silence said otherwise. Maybe it was all a dream and I
would eventually wake up. Then, things could go back to the way
they were last year. I mean, I get it. Perhaps there was a Gordon
family crisis of some kind, but still, you at least call a girl to
inform her of that.

I heard Emily sit back, pulling the
headphones from her bag and placing the buds into her ears. The
music blared despite their snug home. I looked at Wes, seeing he
had a slight smirk on his face, clearly amused by Emily’s actions.
I began to wonder what had transpired between them. I would be
blind not to notice it. There was a sense of calm since the day Wes
had disappeared with Emily. His blinds hadn’t opened for days, and
though I tried to keep track of where Emily was, I couldn’t watch
her all the time. They were hanging out, and I knew it.

I cleared my throat as he backed out of the
driveway. “How are you, Wes?” I was hoping to finally break the
ice.

Wes glanced at me, his face now blank.
“Fine.” He shifted the car into drive and the engine roared. His
smirk faded, and the color in his cheeks faded.

I nodded, sensing it was going to be
difficult to get him to talk. “Wes, I don’t want you to hate me.” I
dove right in, knowing I had a limited amount of time alone with
him before we arrived at school—the only time he could manage to be
near me.

I put my hand on his as it sat on the
shifter. He jerked away and looked in the rearview mirror at Emily.
Clearly, there was something between them. A flash of jealousy
washed down my spine.

“
She’s
not
looking.
She can’t even hear over all that noise,” I reminded him,
sounding mildly annoyed. Wes always relished my attention, but now
he seemed to scorn it.

He shrugged, looking uncomfortable. “Yeah, I
know.” His answer was vague.

I tilted my head. “What about the pain? How
is it?”

Wes leaned against the door slightly. “What
pain?”

I let out a sharp breath, pursing my lips.
“Wes, don’t pretend it didn’t happen.” He was shutting me out.
“What did the doctor say this week?”

“
It’s gone,” he snapped.
“So, I didn’t go.”

I felt hurt by his sudden bitterness. I
looked away from him, eyeing Emily. She gave me a sassy smile and
rolled her eyes. I glared at her, and it was then that I noticed
what was different about her. Her makeup was lighter than normal,
and her typical black cherry lipstick was replaced by something
with a hint of pink. Her clothes had not changed, and her short
skirt was shorter than ever, but the visual difference of her face
was change enough. At least she had a coat on, even if it was lined
with tacky fake fur. The eyeliner around her eyes was half the
thickness, and for the first time since she was thirteen, I felt I
could distinguish the color of them. And the clarity—she was drug
free.

I found myself gawking as Emily gave me
another annoyed look. I was quick to turn back forward, feeling out
of the loop and insulted. The rest of the ride was rather
uncomfortable, and the tension never faltered. When we arrived at
school, I saw that Liz was waiting in the shadows of the corridor,
hiding in her bright yellow rain coat and designer jeans. She gave
me an eager look, followed by a little wave. I rolled my eyes,
waving back as we parked. Today I was hardly in the mood to listen
to her woes about life as a popular girl. More than likely, she was
still bitter about the fact that Max had passed her up last week,
and I knew she just wanted to spout off some excuse to why it
happened.

I got out of the car. Wes barely looked at
me as our doors slammed in unison. He pretended to fumble with the
lock as I stared at him over the top of the car. I finally gave up
and turned toward the school, releasing a surrendering breath.
Emily did not bother to remove her headphones, walking on ahead of
the both of us. Whatever her issues were, it at least seemed
harmless in comparison to the many other things it could have
been.

Liz waved at me a second time, her gestures
flagrant considering her habit of pretending I didn’t exist. I
grumbled, knowing there was no way I could avoid her at this point.
I broke away from the wet pavement of the lot, joining her in the
shelter of the corridor. She touched my arm, smiling in a fake
manner.

“
Are we still on for
tomorrow?” Her eyes were large, like a full moon. When she grinned,
I saw that her teeth were in a perfect white row.

I had a hard time reading
her expression, barely able to look past her new foreseen
death—
dying alone.
“Sure.” Didn’t we always get together on Saturday? Perhaps
after last Saturday’s tenuous talks over Max, she had feared I’d
finally grown sick of her games.

Liz laughed, giving me a playful nudge.
“What’s wrong with you? Do you think I’m mad?”

I shrugged.

She continued to giggle
awkwardly. “I’m not angry with you over Max! Is that what you
thought? Life is not
always
about boys.” I waited for the line that would
inevitably justify that fact, and also insult me somehow. “He’s not
really my type,
anyway.
” She looked dismayed. “Too dark for my taste. Not to mention
a totally
unstylish
dresser.” She turned up her nose. “But he’s perfect for
you.”

It was so kind of her to regard me as dark
and unfashionable. I could hardly contain my excitement. I nodded,
figuring it was easier to agree.

“
But I still want to gossip
about him, don’t you?” She winked at me.

I considered my options for Saturday once
more. I had no foreseen plans, and considering the fact that Max
had seemed to forget about me, and everything else since last
Friday, I didn’t see the harm in some form of social interaction.
Especially being that my only other friend hated me.

“
Sure,” I
mumbled.

Liz jumped. “Oh, great! Then how about two
o’clock?”

I nodded as someone
leisurely leaned against the wall at the end of the otherwise empty
corridor. I glanced at the person, my heart leaping when I saw it
was Max. He grinned at me, crossing his arms.
“I—
I…uh…
” I’d
forgotten what Liz had asked me, too shocked by his sudden
appearance.

“
Jane?
Hel—
lo?”
She sang, noticing that I was distracted. She looked in the
direction I had, and let out a low whistle. “Speaking of the
devil,” she whispered. “Where’s he been?” She stared shamelessly,
indicating that though she claimed he wasn’t her type, he really
was. “I’ll leave you be, then. Two o’ clock, remember that,” she
stated. I felt her pat me on the back as she left, her footsteps
echoing away in a blur.

I forgot about Liz altogether. I swallowed
hard, thinking of my dream. My feet were sewn to the pavement of
the corridor, unwilling to move despite my need to talk with him.
Max spared me, walking toward me instead. I watched him, as though
it were in slow-motion—like an old romance movie. His gait was the
same gait he had in my dream, right down to the slight pause he
took when putting weight on his left foot. It was as though my mind
knew every tick, though I hadn’t known him all that long.

Max reached me. “Hey.” His voice was cool.
Clearly he wasn’t experiencing the same horrible anxiety that I
was.

“
H
—Hi.” I bit my lip, my eyes trying
all they could to avoid his. My cheeks flushed as guilt and
embarrassment stirred my stomach. What if it was true? What if he
really did know about my dreams?

I heard him breath softly. “Excuse my
absence over the past few days. I was a bit distracted with some
things at home.” He lifted one brow. “Moving can be difficult at
times. It can really put a lot of stress on the family.”

So my notions were right. It was a family
thing. I blinked a few times. My head ached with the thought of his
family. I was hoping he wasn’t referencing the fact that his
brother had kissed me, implying it to be the reason for the unrest.
I forced myself to nod, my eyes dancing across his.

“
How have
you been, Beautiful?” he pressed. “Did you forget about me? Perhaps
find yourself a new person to
stalk
in my absence?”

I giggled, his comment easing my burden. I
hated that he was leading our conversation. I was usually so well
spoken, but whenever he was around my words became a mess in my
head. At least he had bloomed a little, speaking more than one word
questions and answers.