Dark One: One for Sorrow... (The Khiara Banning Series Book 1) (20 page)

“So, how old are you?” She asks him, and I let out the breath I was holding because that’s such a mundane question to ask somebody she considers an uncle, but Cael stiffens.

He shrugs, but if he was going for nonchalant it didn’t work. “My birthday is actually in three months.”

Lisa frowns. “Avoid the question, whatever.”

Cael smiles and ruffles her hair, causing her to sigh. “I think we should probably head out, guys. Tomorrow’s a big day for Khiara, and it’s not getting any earlier, is it?” He says.

I look at my phone and gasp – it’s almost ten o’clock. “Oh crap, yeah. I really need to get home.”

Lisa hops off of her chair, runs around the table and flings her arms around me in a hug. “I bet you’re going to look so pretty tomorrow. You
have
to take pictures!”

Cael stands, brushes some cake crumbs off his pants and walks up to us. He adds his arms around the two of us, “Yes,” he says. “Pictures are a must. If I can’t be there because of my arsehole boss, I want to at least live vicariously through your photographs.”

“Don’t worry,” I assure the two of them. “Cara will take every opportunity to take pictures of absolutely
everything
.”

Our hug breaks up and we all walk towards back exit. “Cara scares me sometimes,” says Lisa, but she’s smiling. “She’s funny, and she reminds me of my dad. They have the same sense of humour. You should come over one day, I think you’d like him.”

“You and your dad are close, huh?” I ask.

She nods her head. “I never knew my birth mom. My dad always tells me I look like her, but I wouldn’t know. We have no pictures of her or anything, she just gave birth to me for my parents and disappeared.”

“You look like
you
,” says Cael, and he slips his hand in hers. “And you’re beautiful.”

I find myself shivering in the cold air outside; it’ll start snowing soon if it keeps being this cold. Winter in Maine is harsh and unforgiving, and I absolutely hate it. Why couldn’t I live somewhere like Florida? I rub by arms, currently only covered by a thin sweater because I’m an idiot.

When we reach our cars, Cael’s and mine respectively, we all say our goodbyes. “See you at school,” says Lisa, as she climbs into Cael’s dark green Nissan Sentra. I wave, and she closes the door. Cael gives me a quick kiss on the forehead and a promise to text me, and hops into his car.

An hour later I’m lying in bed, Pug snuggled up against my back, just falling asleep, when my phone buzzes not once, but twice. One text is from Cael, telling me to have a good day tomorrow.

The other is from a number I don’t recognize, but I know somehow that it’s definitely meant for me.

Be careful tomorrow.

I will. I don’t know who sent this, but my gut tells me it’s the same person who put the necklace in my locker, and that can only mean one thing; I’m in danger.

Seventeen

Semi-formal is finally upon us. Cara and I are standing in my bedroom, just finishing the last touches to our respective looks, though I haven’t looked in my mirror yet because Cara wouldn’t let me.

When I put my ruby stud earrings on to complete my look, Cara appraises me with a huge smile. “You look gorgeous, Babe!”

I turn around and stare at myself. Wow, she’s right – I do look gorgeous. I love how Cara’s done my make up; my eyes are done in smoky greens and pinks, lined with black. My eyelashes look incredibly long, she’s used
so
much mascara, but it looks like they could actually be naturally like that. My lips are a soft pink, coated in lip gloss.

Squealing like mad, I hug her close to me. “Cara, whatever you did, it’s amazing. You should be a make-up artist!”

Obviously this has made her day, because she squeals along with me and says, “Really? Screw nursing, I’ll make a splash in the make-up world! But my Mom…”

She doesn’t have to finish the sentence. Her mother was a make-up artist before her father had hanged himself. She’d quit and gotten a job at a law firm because he used to work across from her at her make-up job, and they’d gotten lunch every day at the mall. Her mother can’t stand to look at a make-up artist without feeling guilty. But then again, she can’t stand looking at Cara without thinking of him and feeling guilty.

Awkwardly, I smile at her and loop my arm through hers; trying to help shake the feeling of guilt she carries with her wherever she goes. She’s like a sister to me, so when she’s in pain, I’m in pain. “Shall we?”

The dance is being held in our school’s gym, so when we pull into the driveway, it’s hard to find a parking space.

When we get inside, I notice that everybody has the same type of dress on except myself and a few other people.
Of course…
if there’s a certain way to be dressed at an event, you can bet that I will not be wearing the same type of thing as everybody else. In this case, almost everybody’s wearing a flowing ball gown type of dress.

But I love it. I
will not
let this good moment be taken away from me.

When Cara notices Tristan, she grabs my arm and starts to run towards him, pulling me with her. It doesn’t matter that he’s not supposed to be here because he doesn’t go to our school. He showed up just for Cara’s sake.
Because he really likes her,
I think to myself.

He wraps his arms around her as soon as she lets go of my arm, “Hey beautiful!”

Smiling and bouncing, she hugs him back, all excited about the dance and about his presence. Tristan’s eyes find mine and all I see in them is kindness. He smiles at me and nods his head once at me in greeting. “Khiara, don’t you look…different. I don’t mean that in a bad way – just that I’m pretty sure you’re the only person who isn’t wearing a ball gown.” He looks down at Cara and kisses her head.

I reply, “Thanks! You look awesome too, how did you afford that tux? It’s got to be, like a thousand dollars?”

He just shrugs and says, “It’s a rental.”

I nod my head but all of a sudden feel the need to turn around because that feeling of being watched, the one that I’ve grown accustomed to, is back, and I find Damien staring at me from across the room. Victoria’s glaring at him while he glares at me. He looks like he’s studying me like a complicated puzzle, and she looks like she wants to rip his eyes out of their sockets. I look away.

I never did eat those cookies he gave me…
I think to myself.
He really creeps me out.

“Hey, why don’t you guys go dance. I know you’re itching to. I’ll be fine, I actually brought my book.” I say, gesturing to the dance floor.

Cara’s face lights up with pure delight saying, “Really Ki-ki?” at the same time Tristan says, “You’re sure?” I smile, nod and push them out onto the dance floor, like the good friend that I am.

I find a seat near the stage so I can keep an eye on them, where a horrible wannabe punk rock band is playing, and pull my book out from my purse. I begin to read it, for the hundredth time in a row.
Flowers for Algernon,
has become one of my favourite books in the past two weeks. I get to page twenty-two when Victoria makes her way towards me.

Eyeing me reproachfully she says, “Stay away from Damien. He’ll just end up hurting you in the end.”

Taken aback, I say, “Excuse me? But don’t you think it’s a little odd to be telling me that
your
boyfriend’s going to hurt me. What, do you suspect him of cheating? Because I’d never agree to anything like that, he’s all yours Victoria. He gives me the creeps, anyway.”

All of a sudden her face softens like it did in the library and her eyes take on a pitying look to them, “Look, I know
you
wouldn’t hurt a fly unless you had to. But he’s just not a good person, Khiara. He’ll want to hurt you soon. Yes, it’s true that I act like I don’t really like you, but I have my reasons and suspecting you of stealing my…
boyfriend
is not one of them, believe me. That’s a little too juvenile for me.” I frown and look down at my book. She’s telling me to be careful…could that mean – “Stay away from him. That’s all that I ask.” She says, cutting my thought off, before turning away and walking back towards Damien and her friends. She doesn’t even wait for me to answer her; she just simply walks away.

That was awkward…
I think to myself, as Cara and Tristan waltz across the dance floor to a totally un-waltz-able song. They’re so cute together and he makes her a better person, not that she’s a bad one. He’s what she needs in life, more than I could have ever done for her, even if she
is
my best friend.

As I sit here, trying to get back into the book, everything suddenly stops, like it did in class, only I know for a fact that my necklace is not the cause. I look around the room. The only other person, who is not paused as far as I can tell, is Tristan. He lets go of Cara and walks towards me.

“You know, you’re right. I do really like her,” he says.

“How did you do that?” I say, pulling my knees up to my chin. It’s happening again, oh God.

“Relax, it’s only temporary. I just needed to talk to you in private and this is the only way to do it.” He says.

“But
how!”

“I just…can. I’m not so sure how, exactly, but I can do some pretty strange things. But believe me when I say it’s okay. It doesn’t make me
any
less human, Khiara.”

Another voice, from across the room joins us, “Well, yes, it does actually. It makes you more Angel than anything; Nephilim.” Victoria slowly walks towards us with a grace I hadn’t noticed she possessed. How is she un-frozen? I don’t know how any of this works, I mean it only happened to me once and I almost lost my mind.

“It is technically wrong for us to couple with humans to create…well, your kind,” her face scrunches up into an expression of pain, but she wipes it away, fast.

She turns to me. “I’m sorry you had to learn this way, things are supposed to be much different, and I thought Cael would have told you all sooner, considering the circumstances.”
Cael? What circumstances? Man, I knew something odd was going on between them the other day…

As I’m trying to work everything out (because this is crazy) Tristan’s face is as white as a sheet. “What did you call me?” he whispers.

“Nephilim, I think…” I supply, just going along with the insanity. Things like this don’t happen in a span of minutes to normal people. Things like this just don’t happen. And yet…

Victoria stops walking when she is an inch away from Tristan’s face, staring him down. “You are the product of a human and one of The Fallen. Now, at least you can understand the aversion some people feel towards you, while others simply cannot get
enough
of you. Like your girlfriend. She is attracted to the real you, don’t worry about that, but the real you happens to be a little more angelic than human. Your glory appeals to the little nymph. She likes
shiny
things.”