Forgotten (27 page)

Jace screamed, “Since her sisters are
nowhere near, she’s in her human form; nevertheless, she has to be
willing, before I can lay a hand on her, much less heal
her!”

Zalen laughed vindictively. It shocked
me. With each high pitch of his laugh, another wave of vibrations
slammed my ears. Tears flowed from my eyes, distorting my gray
world into a red haze. I closed my eyes and kept my hands shoved
over them, so I wouldn’t have to see their shapes, even with my
eyes closed. My ears were burning. I would have stood and walked
away, but my legs were cramping.

“
Mute yourselves!” I
demanded, thinking of how Marco had kept me from getting sick at
the library.

Eventually, I started to relax. I
opened my eyes just long enough to see four dark shadows in my
vision instead of their usual white figures. I touched my ear and
drew back a liquid.

“
I need a napkin,” I said.
“I’m bleeding.”

From the spicy scent, I knew Marco
handed me what I requested. “Is Marco the only one who had come
close to me without affecting me?”

“
Ability and willingness
are two entirely different answers to your extremely vague
inquiry,” Analee hissed. “Ask better questions.”

“
If I somehow get addicted
to you crazies because you didn’t Mute yourselves, you can find
someone else to play this sick game of hide-and-seek,” I said
through clenched teeth. “I’m not going to let anyone do anything
with me. Consider my permission for Jace to heal me, revoked, on a
semi-
permanent basis.”

C
HAPTER
T
EN

I woke on the wrong side of the bed
the next morning. I went through the motions in my classes, trying
not to get called on for failing pop-quizzes. My algebra teacher
threatened to give me in-school suspension if I didn’t change my
attitude and answer his questions, without chiming in with a snide
remark. My third-period teacher excused me a minute early, so I
didn’t have to wander the halls, but I highly suspected she was
sick of putting up with me. I was sick of myself too.

I sank into my fourth period seat,
despising my headache that began to ease the moment I got into the
room. It smelled like Jace. I glanced around the room. No one, not
even the teacher, was here yet. Could I have been so in tune to his
scent, that I smelled him because he usually sat behind
me?

Students trickled in, distracting my
thoughts. Jace walked in with Bree, moments before the bell rang.
She giggled at his joke, but I wasn’t paying attention to their
conversation. I didn’t care if she flirted with him, because for
the first time all day, I didn’t feel like crawling out of my own
skin. My body warmed, and my head cleared. His proximity was
incredibly soothing.

“
Good morning,
dearest.”

Since I didn’t have the patience or
ability to respond without coming off like a complete nut-case, I
didn’t respond. He studied me for a half a second before cursing
obscenities in whatever language he preferred to speak when he was
aggravated. He slammed his books down on the desk behind me, and
took a seat.

“
I apologize for how last
night ended,” he whispered once the teacher started lecturing. “I
have no wish for you to feel the obsessive lust an Addict craves,
which is what you are experiencing now - the Craves. They aren’t
permanent and will pass, if I don’t string you along. It probably
happened, because Analee and Zalen showed up in their true form.
Analee is mad, because you won’t do what she wants, and was simply
throwing a fit. Knowing that you are acting of your own free will
is imperative to me, Gwyneth.”

Bree coughed, as if to ask what he was
referring to. I pretended not to notice her blatant inquiry. Her
irksome eaves-dropping habit was making me weary.

After the bell rang, signaling the end
of class, Jace rested his hand on my shoulder. He said that there
was something important I needed to know. After packing up her
backpack, Bree said that she was meeting Ryker for lunch, and that
us four, should meet up later. He had been missing school to visit
a few colleges about scholarships, which was why he hadn’t been
around. Pity, that my own problems were getting out of hand, so
that I couldn’t enjoy my Ryker-free moments. Jace removed his hand
from my shoulder only to pick up my backpack.

“
Holding my stuff hostage
so you can talk to me?”

He sighed but made no indication he
was going to give me my backpack back. I didn’t care; I started to
walk out of the room. “You can stop with this little act of yours
anytime now, Gwyneth. You hate the thought of being away from me,
especially now.”

“
I know! I know! I want
you, so I should just turn my brain off and trust that you have
nothing but good intentions, but I can’t, because I actually have a
brain, and nothing you people say makes any sense!” I said and
turned around. I expected him to be a few feet away, instead of
directly behind me.

“
You make it very difficult
for me to show you my true intentions,” he said and handed me my
backpack back. “Courting was so much easier, when a girl knew how
to act like a lady.”

I took the bag from him and was
careful not to touch any part of him. He said nothing as we walked
through the noisy hallway. Locker doors slammed shut, while
students hurried to get to lunch.

“
You want answers, I get
that. Trust me, Gwyneth, I get that,” Jace acknowledged, and
stopped in front of my locker. He leaned against the wall of
lockers while I stuffed my backpack into mine. “I’ll make you a
deal.”

Another deal – this should be good. I
closed my locker door. “I’m listening.”

“
I need to give Analee a
politically acceptable reason to stay,” Jace said. “She’s furious
that I haven’t given you your sight, and she thinks my
investigation is a waste of time, especially if others are hunting
you. If I can prove that you’re one of us, I think it’ll cool her
jets for the time being.”

“
She’s
in charge,” I thought out loud. “She needs me but is livid
because I’m not playing by
her
rules.”

“
Analee rarely has anyone
stand up to her, and she always found you particularly irritating.
Help me out. I’ll make sure you get the answers you’re looking for,
and make sure you’re safe,” Jace said anxiously. “All of our kind
knows that I’ve been looking for the Chronicler for years – which
puts you in jeopardy even if you aren’t her. There’re people who
want the Chronicler for themselves, and won’t hesitate to
kill
anyone
who
gets in their way. They prefer it actually…as ludicrous as that
sounds.”

“
You’re trying to scare
me.”

“
I’m trying to tell you as
much of the truth as I can without attracting unwanted
attention.”

I thought about the vision where the
skeleton girl crawled from the ground. “Unwanted attention, from
the Scavengers?”

He clamped his hand over my mouth and
waited. Only the sound of the clock ticking interrupted the
otherwise quiet hall. After a full minute, the tension in Jace’s
shoulders eased. “It would be wise never to utter their name, not
even you. They may not recognize you.”

He hesitated to remove his hand from
my mouth. Leisurely, he let his fingers slip from my
lips.

“
Why does Analee, then?” I
said when I was sure I wasn’t going to babble like an idiot,
because some cute guy caressed my lips.

“
Because they answer to her
now,” Jace said. “No, you.”

***

I’d just taken my last bite of
Martha’s meatloaf when my cell rang. I excused myself and answered
on the third ring. Marco’s voice came through the speaker. He told
me Jace was able to set up a meeting with Analee and a few others,
but it had to be tonight.

“
It’s a last minute thing,”
Marco said, like it happened all the time. “We aren’t exactly big
planners.”

Marco told me to pretend the call was
from Bree, hoping to hang out. I played along. John let me go only
if I promised to help out around the house on Sunday, after the
game.

“
Can I come to Bree’s with
you?” Elsie asked, taking my hand and leading me to the front
door.

I smiled, as I tried to think of
something, anything, to tell her. I must have waited too long
because she mumbled “never mind,” dropped my hand, and walked away.
I grabbed her hand and bit my lip. Glancing over my shoulder, I
made sure Martha and John weren’t within earshot.

“
I’m not going to Bree’s
place. I’m meeting up with Jace, and a few of his
friends.”

“
With Jace? Really?” she
squealed. I was beginning to think she had developed a crush on
Jace, since the last time he had come over for supper.

“
I’ll tell you all about it
in the morning,” I added. “But only if you promise to keep it a
secret.”

Marco’s spicy scent welcomed me before
I even opened the door. He offered me his arm, but I didn’t exactly
want to touch him, any of them. Instead I unfolded Stella, and
found my way to the car. It was the similar to the one Jace had
used. Marco drove fast. Either he was a bit of a mind reader, or he
liked to go fast. It tempted me to roll down the windows so I could
feel the wind on my skin. However, I got the inclination that
tonight, I wouldn’t want my nerves on edge. Triggering visions
would do just that.

“Jace didn’t want to pick me up?” I
asked.

“
That
had to be the first question you
asked?” Marco said.

“
Why is it such a big deal
that I asked that particular question?”I demanded.

“
Because that question
would have lost me money, if lover boy would have put money on the
table.”

“
A bet with
whom?”

Marco ignored my question. I had a
guess of who it was anyway. At least Jace had the intelligence not
to gamble when it came to me. “What do you call yourselves, to one
another, since you can’t utter a word about what you
are?”

“We are familiar with each other –
known each other for a few years.” Marco chuckled to himself, at
his inside joke. “Most everyone in the world is a human. We aren’t.
Simple.”

“But you do have names for each other
– the Master, Healer, and Rippler. They’re call signs aren’t they –
is yours? The Reaper?”

“Sweetness, I’m writing this one up to
you having a massive case of amnesia; otherwise, I would insure
that you’d never ask me that question again.”

“
So why do you have a name
for the Scavengers, if you can’t address them by it?”

Marco slammed on the brakes, and then
threw the car into park. His spicy scent rose as he instantly
changed from a dark shadow to a white figure. Just when he was
bright enough to match Jace’s blaze, he vanished. A second later he
re-appeared several blocks away. I called out to him, but he didn’t
give any indication that he was going anywhere close to me. Why did
everyone freak out when I said that word? When nothing happened, he
reappeared, next to the car. He hadn’t walked over to me; he hadn’t
run; he simply appeared.

“Please tell me you are not so stupid,
that you just used their name,” Marco said after he’d slid back
into the seat.

“Analee does.”

“So, you want to be just like Analee,
is it, or are you testing the dirt crawlers’ alliance, after all
these years?” Marco scoffed. His head twitched slightly, as he
studied me. Without warning, he grabbed my wrist, and pulled me
toward him.

Instincts took over me, and I tried
struggling against him. He laughed at my attempt. I had to give him
this one – it would have been like fighting Goliath. When I stopped
fighting, he flicked my pinky finger.

A vision of a giant man
whom I held by knife point, flashed in my mind. He kneeled before
me. The blade trembled in my hand.

“
I won’t allow you take me
to her, at least not alive,” I said.

“
It’s not for her, Ocean
Eyes,” he said. He pronounced my nickname like it was a joke.
“You’ll want to grant this one. Think of it as a gift.”

“A gift for whom exactly?”
I asked.

“
Give your sister’s voice
to us, and you’ll give all of us deities a way to speak up against
the Master.”

“I’m getting a headache,” I said, as
soon as the vision of me holding Marco at knife point ended. I
jerked my hand, but he refused to let go. Instead he flicked it
again.

A flash of the old man,
holding onto a bloody knife in one hand, trickled into my mind.
Scarred and wrinkled, his hands dripped with deep red blood.
Collapsing to his knees, the old man grinned vindictively as an
impossible gift was bestowed upon him. Smoothing out like his skin
was being ironed, the old man grew young. His gray hair deepened in
a dark brown, curling at the ends. His insane laugh echoed in my
mind.

Marcus’s snicker brought me out of the
vision where the old man defied physics and gained years of his
life back. “You might not know everything you used to, but you’re
hiding something, behind those pretty little eyes of
yours.”