Dark Revelation (7 page)

Vera cleared her throat.  Ryleigh didn’t realize he still had his hands on her shoulders until he removed them. 

            Ryleigh’s face felt flush and dizzy.  Beads of perspiration broke across her forehead.   “Aunt Vera,” she started.  “I think I am going to go change and take a shower.  It’s been a long first day.”

            Vera nodded, “Come down when you are finished.  Everyone is staying for dinner.”  Ryleigh left the study.  Half way up the stairs she heard the study door open behind her. 

            “Wait,” she heard Tristan say. 

She stopped thinking that she owed Tristan an apology for earlier.  “Look, I’m sorry about earlier.  I’m not normally that rude but… it was the first day and…”  Tristan interrupted her. “It’s fine,” he said.  “However, I do need to talk to you…but not here.” 

            Ryleigh cocked her head to the side wondering what this new cousin could possibly have to talk to her about.   Tristan gazed back with his piercing blue eyes.  Ryleigh found herself thinking about Tristan in a way that one should never think of a cousin and immediately shut those thoughts down.  “Um, okay,” Ryleigh said.  She was unused to all this newness.  It was hard enough to adjust to this new life, but now adjusting to a new family, it was all happening too quickly.

            “Okay, when do you want to talk,” Ryleigh finally decided - curious.  Tristan drew closer to Ryleigh, leaning into her, whispering in her ear with hot breath standing the hairs on her body to attention.

            “We’ll talk tomorrow at lunch,” he promised.  Tristan turned abruptly and walked back to the study. 

            Ryleigh shook her head gathering her senses.  What was wrong with her?

***

Dinner went by without a hitch.  It was politeness with an edge of nervousness thrown in.  Ryleigh chose not to stick around after dinner and instead retreated to her room.  She jumped on the computer to see if Cy was online.  He never was anymore and that hurt. It was severely disappointing.   Even though she had only known him for a year, he was the only friend that she’d actually kept over the years and made an attempt to stay in touch with.     

            Prior to falling asleep that evening, Ryleigh replayed the afternoon’s scene with Tristan over and over.   Ryleigh wasn’t sure what he needed to tell her, but she knew it couldn’t be good. 

8

All those dirty little secrets

            School the next day was the same as the previous, except, Ryleigh wasn’t as nervous. Tristan was in her homeroom as well as her History class.  She offered him a hello from across the room.  The morning passed and before Ryleigh knew it, it was lunch.  She meandered through the line picking a hamburger, no bread, and a soft drink. 

            Ryleigh woke up with her stomach complaining.  She was ravenous.  For breakfast, she downed four eggs, eight pieces of bacon, orange juice, six sausage links, and two glasses of milk.  She attributed it to starting her running regimen and going to school.  She decided to take it easy on lunch, although she felt she could eat an entire cow and its calves. 

            She saw Tristan waving at her from across the room motioning for her to come to his table.  This time she didn’t walk away. 

            Walking over to the table she passed by the usual conglomeration of cliques.  The gorgeous, the geeky, the inept, the socially awkward, the artistic, etc…  She wouldn’t have anything to do with any club or group.  Ryleigh was comfortable being herself and didn’t feel as if she needed to project any outward façade to incorporate into any group or clique within the social order of high school. Today, she wore her favorite pair of dark blue jeans; band t-shirt, and black combat boots.  Regardless of where anyone thought she “belonged”, she never gave into the stereotype.  She dressed and did things her way.

            “Glad you decided to sit with me today,” Tristan remarked with his winning smile. 

            “Yeah well, you said you had something to tell me,” Ryleigh replied hoping this wouldn’t take too much time and she could eat and get out of there.

            “I am not going to tell you here,” Tristan motioned around the cafeteria.  “Eat your lunch and then we’ll go.”  Ryleigh looked at Tristan as if he were nuts. 

            “What do you mean go?”  Ryleigh asked. 

“Off campus.”

“I am not skipping school,” Ryleigh replied adamantly.  “I have plans to graduate early and there is no way I am jeopardizing that by cutting class.” 

            Tristan leaned in across the table, “You need to know what happened to your mom and dad.  You need to know who you are.”  Ryleigh stilled.  She was as a stone gargoyle forever guarding a chapel.  Swallowing her pride and realizing the information could be more important than an early graduation date, she agreed.  “Fine,” she said.  “I’m done now.  Let’s go.”  Ryleigh grabbed her tray as she stood up and walked to dump it in the garbage.  She turned expecting to see Tristan behind her, but he was still sitting at the table.  “Are you coming or what?” she asked as she continued out the cafeteria.  Tristan, a little surprised, followed suit. 

Ryleigh waited for him outside the cafeteria doors.  “So,
where
are we going and
how
are we getting there?” Ryleigh asked impatiently. 

            “We are getting away from this school and from prying ears,” Tristan said.  How aggravating.  Ryleigh wanted answers. Now would be her chance to finally get them.

            The pair walked off the school campus and into the surrounding neighborhood.  Ryleigh followed Tristan until he stopped beside a golden toned mini cooper.  He pushed the button on his key ring disabling the alarm and unlocking the doors, “Hop in.” 

            Ryleigh was hesitant.  She hardly knew Tristan, even if he was family, but she had an internal whisper that said he wouldn’t harm it.  That it would be okay.  She knew that no harm would come to her because she trusted him.  She knew in her core that she would be alright.  She opened the door and got in. 

*~*~*~

Tristan jumped in and started the car.  “We are going to just go for a bit of a drive.  We’ll be back in time for Siegfried to take you home.  He will never know you left and Aunt Vera will assume you’ve been in school this whole time.”

            “What about the automated system that says I’ve missed a class,” Ryleigh asked knowing that the school would call if she was marked absent or even tardy.  Tristan turned to her and smiled, “Don’t worry about it.  That system calls out randomly all the time.  You could tell her it was a mistake, or, that you volunteered in another classroom and that it will be cleared up the next day.  Don’t sweat it.”

            Ryleigh shrugged.  She would play it off like Tristan said as a mistake.  Hopefully Vera would just accept it. 

            They drove for about twenty minutes into the desert.  If Ryleigh wasn’t sure of her instincts she would probably be panicking.  Driving into the desert with someone she hardly knew was the perfect scene for stupid-girl-gets-murdered.  Tristan pulled the car over, turned the engine off, and got out of the car.  Ryleigh watched him for a moment.  He was so sure of himself.  He had an air of confidence that surrounded him.  It seeped from his pores and almost drowned her.   

            This was so far out of Ryleigh’s comfort zone.  She opened the door and sat in the car for a moment.  Only known him two days and they were already breaking rules.  She laughed silently to herself.  She’d wanted adventure in her life, but not this kind of adventure.

            “Okay,” Ryleigh questioned.  “What is
so
important that we need to drive into the middle of the desert for you to tell me?”  Throwing a bit of sarcasm his way as Ryleigh approached Tristan, “You don’t have an axe behind you do you?” 

            Tristan grinned and paced backward a few steps.  He turned looking at her and took a deep breath.  As his chest rose and filled with air, Ryleigh, for just a moment, noticed saw a glimmer.  A shift.  A wave that erupted from his body and looked as if it were a mirage in the desert.  Ryleigh stepped back blinking away the illusion.  “Don’t be afraid,” Tristan said calmly. 

            “What – What the heck was that?” Ryleigh asked her heart rate continuing to increase with her nervousness.    

            “Don’t freak out.  But what I am going to tell you…it could be kinda scary,” Tristan said very calmly. 

            Ryleigh swallowed, “What do you mean… scary?”  Her voice started to quiver and her hands started to shake.  She felt the pounding in her chest and knew that if she allowed panic to overtake her, she could react.  Violently. 

            “First of all, my parents are not my parents,” Tristan remarked.  “They are - something else.  Something dressed to look like my parents.”

            “Wait, wait, wait a minute,” Ryleigh scrunched her face in disbelief.  “How are they “dressed” to look like your parents?  How are they not your parents?” 

            Tristan stepped closer to Ryleigh who stepped back. “I know my own parents, don’t you think?” Sarcasm slowly dripped from his voice like molasses onto pancakes.

“I guess so,” Ryleigh agreed.  “Okay, so if they aren’t your parents, then where are your parents?” Ryleigh just wasn’t sure what to make of this talk they were having.  T        Tristan rolled his eyes.  “My parents?  I don’t know.  I suppose they are with your parents.”

            “Wait, you think your parents are dead?”

            “No, and your parents aren’t dead either.” 

Ryleigh suddenly felt nauseous.  The words slowly rolled from her tongue, “My parents
are
dead.  You are not funny.”  Tristan stared at her.  She could feel it emanating from his skin.  The truth.  The truth tasted bittersweet. 

            “They aren’t dead Ryleigh.  Things are just not as they seem.” 

            Instead of contradicting him, she wanted to know the truth.  She’d felt as if things were off since leaving the hospital and moving in with Vera.  “Then tell me.  Tell me everything.”

Tristan nodded. “I’m really not sure where to start,” he began.  He rifled his hands through his hair and closed his eyes for a moment.  Taking a breath, he started, “Other than what Illeana and I have found out recently, I’ll start at the beginning.” 

9

The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth

           
“I overheard them talking,” Tristan began.  His gaze seemed far and distant although he was staring directly into Ryleigh’s eyes.  “My
fake
parents or, the FP’s as Illeana and I call them…”  Ryleigh nodded and tried to not let her mind wander.   It was strange.  Bizarre.  Something unreal and unexpected.  She thought for a second that maybe, just maybe, the entire family was crazy and she would make a break for it, run away, and get out of there as soon as possible. “…they were saying something about how Tom and Adrianne were holding up nicely.  They were talking to someone else on the phone, and I assumed they could have been talking about someone else, but, we figured out that it had to do with
your
mom and dad.” 

            “When was this?” Ryleigh interrupted. 

            “It was about three months ago.  Illeana and I just found out that you moved in with Vera.  The FP’s thought we were still at school, but it was half-day or something like that.  We never made too much noise coming home; besides, our house is as big as yours.”

Ryleigh said dismissively, “It’s not really my house.”

“Illeana would immediately go change as soon as we got home and I am always hungry, so I headed for the kitchen.  That’s when I overheard them.  Normally, I wouldn’t have thought anything about it, but their voices…,” Tristan trailed off almost whispering.  “They were different.  They weren’t my parents.  They were… They were someone else.  They didn’t even know I was standing there.  At first, I didn’t know what to think.  I didn’t even know what to say as I walked by.  But, I heard them.  I heard them say what they said.  And then I went upstairs and told Illeana.  That’s when we decided to just play along and see what happened.”

            Immediately, the world around Ryleigh deafened and her skull felt a tremendous pressure.  She was having a hard time processing this information.  That her parents were still alive after having to deal with their deaths.  Missing them every hour of every day.  Not after three months.  That would place her moving in with Vera at the time that Tristan overheard this conversation.  She couldn’t breathe.

            Almost gasping for breath, Ryleigh asked, “So.  What do we do now?  Where are my parents?  Where are you parents?” It was taking every ounce of control she had not to allow the tears welling in her eyes to come crashing down. 

            “Well, let me ask you this… what
do
you know about your parents?”

            Ryleigh was puzzled by Tristan’s question.  What did that even mean?  She only knew her parents.  She had no idea about the extended family she’d recently been introduced to.  “I thought I knew my parents, but you know, I didn’t even know I had grandparents.”  Tristan nodded and then said, “You need to talk to Vera.  She needs to give you some insight into who you really are.  I can’t say much more than that.  All I can do,” Tristan said moving closer to Ryleigh, “is show you.”

             “Don’t be afraid,” he said calmly as he took another step.  His voice emanated a tone that soothed her nervousness.  She knew he wasn’t going to hurt her.

            Tristan reached out to her and grabbed her hands.  Ryleigh felt an electric jolt course through her hands.  Her heart started to race.  “Just breathe,” Tristan said.  “I’m going to show you what you are capable of.”  Ryleigh remembered the incident with Cyrus and started to get nervous.  Light began to almost seep from Tristan’s skin carving deep runic symbols; curling into purple waves of flame.  As the fire spread from his arms to encase his body, it began to move from his hands to hers.  Ryleigh felt a heat rising from the center of her chest.  It continued to spread outward to her limbs.  Ryleigh thought she could almost hear a humming, like rhythmic music, pulsing in time with the flames that rose from his body. The flame continued to creep over her hands and coated coat her in a purple haze.