Mark of the Seer (25 page)

“Great. Now I can take this thing off.” I reached for the tie but he gently grabbed my hand.

“Not yet,” he told me.

I listened as he got out of the truck, slamming the door. Then he opened my door and startled me by picking me up.

“What are you up to?” I held onto him tightly.

He began walking. “Almost there.” The steps he took made crunching sounds, like he was walking on dead leaves. A gust of wind hit us, causing me to tremble. I had a black stole wrapped around my shoulders, but it was very thin, not doing much to keep the cold fall air from reaching my skin.

All of the sudden he halted his steps, gently putting me down and untying the tie. As the tie fell from my eyes I gasped, my hand flying to my mouth.

I was standing in front of a little shack, only it was more than that—it was mine and Brenton's hideout from when we were kids, located way behind his house. It looked the same, only there had been some upgrades constructed on and around it since the last time I'd seen it.

“So what do you think?” he asked a few heartbeats later.

“It's...It's our old hideout.” I gazed up at him in shock. “I'm speechless.”

“Yeah,” he said, running a hand through his brown hair. “I cleaned out all the overgrown mess, added a few feet to the inside.” He looked down at me. “Ya wanna see the inside?”

“Uh-huh,” I nodded, still in
Oh Wow
mode. He chuckled, taking my hand and opening the wooden door. What I saw next completely floored me.

Candles were placed everywhere, burning brightly and smelling sweet. A table with two chairs sat in the middle of the room, a silver covered platter placed on it. A couch sat in a corner next to the only window in the hideout. It was nothing more than a little shack, but if there was plumbing and electricity, along with all the work Brenton had done, it could have easily passed as a small apartment.

“Why did you do this?” I asked. He stood behind me with his arms wrapped around my waist and his chin resting on my shoulder.

“I just thought we could make it our secret hideout again. Like, whenever we want to be alone or escape from the outside world, we could come here and remember all the good times we had as kids.” He turned me around in his arms, pressing his forehead to mine—I was pretty much putty in his hands.

“I thought this would be the perfect place to tell you that I've decided to go to New York with you.”

“What? Really?” I exclaimed, leaning back so I could get full view of his face.

“Yep,” he nodded, grinning. “Told my folks last night.”

“What did they say?”

“They're all for it.”

I took his face in my hands.

“Brenton, you just made me the happiest girl in the world.”

I pressed my lips to his, giving in to him wholly, pushing out all the negativity from my mind. For a few brief moments I was able to forget all my troubles, forget all about nightmares, angels, and demons. I lost myself in the kiss, and we stayed in that lip-lock for a long time.

For dinner we had pizza, which had stayed warm in the covered platter, and drank coke out of red plastic cups. Yeah, not the most romantic dinner, but to me it was simply perfect. We talked for an hour about New York. We decided that after graduation we would travel up there, find a decent place to live. He would work while I went to school, and after I graduated he would attend a technical college.

There was no talk about marriage or getting engaged. We were just content with knowing that after we graduated we would be leaving this crummy town together, and whatever happened down the road we would make it through—
together
.

On the way to the dance, I just could not keep myself from smiling. Brenton had certainly impressed me, letting me know how important I was to him. I loved him and he loved me, and nothing would ever change that. Nothing could ever come between us.

Also, nothing, absolutely nothing could wreck or destroy this night.

Or so I thought.

Chapter Nineteen

On opening the doors to the gymnasium, a blast of cool air welcomed Brenton and I, along with the scent of lemony floor wax mixed with sweat socks. I don't know whose grand idea it was to have a formal dance inside a stinky gym but hey, wasn't my call! Seriously, all I was saying was that you can try to take the sock stank out of a gym, but masking it with perfumed candles and smelly disinfectants would so not work.

The school had dug deep in their stingy pockets and hired a surprisingly good DJ to work the dance. The wood floor beneath our feet vibrated from the peppy club-like music blaring out of multiple speakers.

Turns out that I was right about one thing—this dance was so totally
lame
. The decor, as I had predicted, was full of tacky streamers, paper-mache turkeys and pilgrims, and someone had tossed leaves of every color on the floor, I guessed to give the dance a warm earthy feel. A refreshment table full of junk and two different punch bowls were placed in front of the stage area. Six smaller round tables with black table cloths were stuck to one corner of the gym. Each table held a lit candle and, something I actually liked, a vase full of real sunflowers. I quickly took a mental note to swipe one after the dance. A group of girls, obviously dateless, were out on the dance floor dancing very, very badly.

We had only been there a couple of minutes when Kora came running up to us, with Kevin trailing behind her.

“Omigosh, Clare, you look beautiful!” she raved, pulling me into a hug. She looked dazzling in her long fitted black dress with a sexy slit coming way up her thigh.

I hugged her back. “So do you, but what up with the heels?” I gestured at her four-inch heels.

She playfully slapped my arm.

“Oh, please. I'm still a whole lot shorter than you.”

Brenton and Kevin greeted each other with their dude-like salutations. Kevin looked dashing in his tux, and actually had his hair styled, parting it on the side. Usually his hair was plastered against his head due to his excessive hat wearing.

After mingling with friends, grabbing some stall punch (thankfully not spiked), and getting our pictures taken by the photographer, we eventually found ourselves on the dance floor. The music was fast and I soon found out just how hard it was to dance in heels. Brenton noticed my disability and wrapped his arms around my waist, lifting me off the ground. I felt like such a nerd as he tried to keep dancing while holding me off the ground. Instead of being embarrassed, though, I started laughing uncontrollable. I was having the time of my life.

To my relief, a slow song came on and he was able to put me back on the floor, though he kept his arms around me. On the other side of the gym I spotted Kevin and Kora, gazing sweetly into each others eyes. Janey, in her shiny silver dress (the one Kora said reminded her of a disco ball), was standing with a tux-clad Casey by the refreshment table, both engaged in deep conversation. Briefly, I wondered what they were talking about, until Brenton asked me a question.

“Havin' a good time?”

I shrugged. “It's okay,” I answered, then broke into a huge grin. To my utter amazement I was actually having a great time, and at a school dance nonetheless.

“Come on, it's gotta be more than okay.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine, fine. I'm havin' a spectacular time. There. I said it. Are ya happy now?”

“Quite,” he answered aristocratically, then shot me a cute lopsided grin. He pulled me closer to him, and I leaned my head against his chest, my nose catching a whiff of his cologne for the first time that night. I wasn't sure what it was called, but I loved it.

Almost as much as the scent of lavender...

No. No. No. I was not going there tonight.

Yes, it was true that I'd had a nightmare, and yes, it was true that Sam spoke to me afterward, but my mind was made up. No more angels. No more demons. No more supernatural mumbo-jumbo.

No, tonight was about fun and friends, plus I'd gotten the best news of my life. Everything was perfect, finally falling into place. I was feeling happy and, most importantly, normal.

So if all that was true, why were my thoughts sneaking off to Sam?

Brenton's voice woke me from my line of thinking.

“Ya know,” he murmured in my ear, “you are the most beautiful girl at this dance.”

I leaned back, tilting my head to the side.

“Just the dance?”

“What?”

“What about the most beautiful girl in the world?”

He laughed, throwing his head back. Then gazing down at me seriously he said, “You already know that you're the only girl who'll ever have my heart.” He paused, his eyes gleaming with love.

“You've always had my heart, Clare.”

I stared back, getting myself lost in his chocolate colored eyes.

“Ya know,” I began, swallowing down my sudden nervousness, “earlier, back at our hideout, you said something about us hangin' out there thinkin' on all the good times we had and the memories we made.”

He smiled. “Yeah, so?”

“So I was thinkin'...why not after the dance, we go to our old hideout and make...
new
memories together.”

We stopped dancing and he narrowed his eyes, a blush crept slowly across his face. “Are you sayin'—”

“What I'm saying,” I cut in, touching his cheeks with my hands, “is that I'm ready.”

He raised his eyebrows, a look of disbelief coating his features.

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Because there's no rush,” he continued. “I mean, don't feel like you have to or anyth—”

I shushed him by placing my finger to his lips.

“I love you, and I'm ready.”

I chuckled, adding, “Besides, we're gonna be livin' together in a few months!”

He grinned. “That's right. But what about the after party?”

I grinned, fluttering my eyelashes lasciviously.

“You're the only after party I want.”

“Wow,” he said in mock surprise. “You must be real serious to miss a party.”

I laughed and kissed him softly.

“Okay,” he said against my lips. “After the dance we'll go to our hideout.”

“No, not after the dance,” I corrected him. “After this
song
.”

His face turned red as a beet, and I laughed out loud at the shocked look on his face. After a few seconds he relaxed, saying, “After this song we'll...go to our hideout.”

Wrapping his arms tightly around my waist and pulling me as close as possible against him, I draped my arms around his shoulders, my hands caressing his neck. I buried my face in his chest and breathed in his masculine scent when the realization of the situation struck me:

Was I really going to make my big “V” disappear?

It wasn't that I was scared or anything; I mean sex was sex, plain and simple, and Brenton wasn't just a guy. He was the one I loved, the one that I would love forever—the one I would marry someday. So that should make it okay to lose my virginity to him...right?

Out of nowhere a thought surfaced to the top of my brain, replaying the night when Brenton and I had almost done “the deed,” but didn't because Sam had shown up, stopping us. Of course Brenton had no idea why we stopped, only thought it was just me not ready for that next step, or as I had lamely put it “not feeling right”.

I could remember every word at that precise moment—
Clarity
,
don't. Please don't do this.
I remembered the sadness that echoed in his sweet voice, the sadness in his beautiful blue eyes. What would Sam think?

No, here I was going again, worrying for nothing. It didn't matter what Sam would think or say because that part of my life was so ov—

Whoa. What the crap?

Slumping over in pain, I clutched my stomach as a wave of nausea hit me, like a wave in the ocean taking me down. The feeling was like someone kicking me hard in the belly. My mind blanked for a moment, causing a disoriented sensation to rush into me. My energy level had dropped dramatically and then a familiarity, one I was not expecting tonight, fogged my senses.

No. No. Please, no!

This was not good. My body was frozen, a deep chill all the way through my bones. My lungs ached and felt heavy. My hands...

I gasped in a muted shock as I caught sight of my burning palms. They looked different than before, not glowing red, not glowing green. No. They were black, as black as the night sky. As black as the demons eyes.

Black like I had stuck my hands in a bucket of black paint.

Death
.

I don't know why that certain word sounded in my skull, but it did. Panic surged through my veins as I scanned the crowd of dancing teenagers, who were oblivious to what was happening. I knew what I was looking for—three black-dressed freaks with pale faces, black eyes, and wickedness sketched all over their faces.

“Clarity, what's up?”

I heard Brenton but it was like I was hearing him from inside a bubble. Instead of answering, I continued to search the crowd, my eyes falling in Kevin and Kora's direction. They were still in a couples embrace, dancing away and enjoying the dance, but they were not what my eyes were focusing on.