Paranormal Realities Box Set (48 page)

Too soon, the kiss ended, as Holden
lifted his head.

His arms remained loosely around me.
Gazing down into my eyes, he lifted one hand and brushed my hair back with a
caress across my face.

"What's happening?" I asked.

"It's hard to explain." His smile
was half frown.

"Try," I said, shaking him a
little.

"I will but give me a little more
time."

Nodding, I stepped back and out of his
arms even though all my instincts said to never leave their shelter. The
enormity of feeling had overwhelmed me and I had to put a distance between us.

This time I didn't get too close to the
edge of the roof but just close enough to see the school lawn below where a
familiar figure stood.

"Isn't that Mrs. Gazardi?" I
muttered.

"Where?" Holden asked.

She seemed to be staring into the sky,
not in our direction but off into the distance.

Glancing up, I noticed a movement. If it
had been water I would have said it was a whirlpool. A whirlpool with bolts of
lightning illuminating it. The swirling and turning of the clouds mesmerized me
almost so much that I almost didn't notice the figure—a bird? If so, it
must be a heck of a big one —flying toward its center. The turning and
whirling increased.

"What is that? A tornado?" The
night had been so clear and there'd been no warning siren. Even so, maybe we
should take cover.

"It's just a strange cloud
formation," Holden assured me, but there was something guarded in his
expression and tone as he said it.

Maybe Mrs. Gazardi would know what the
peculiar whirlpool was. I searched the lawn with my eyes and found her. Would
she run back into the school screaming in fear? No. She remained still but the
inner illumination was back. Mrs. Gazardi's skeleton glowed. This time there
was no lighting I could blame for an optical illusion. An involuntary shiver
ran through me.

The whirlpool in the sky closed up and
faded away. The cloud separated into wisps that drifted apart until the night
was completely clear again.

Mrs. Gazardi's inner light faded as the
sky returned to normal.

"Something's weird about her tonight
." Or else
about me
, I thought.

As if she heard me, Mrs. Gazardi's head
whipped around. Her eyes blazed up at me, burning with their red glow until a
sudden faintness overwhelmed me. I swayed, hovering on the brink of falling
over into nothingness.

Holden grabbed my shoulders from behind
and pulled me from the edge for the second time that night.

"Let's get inside," he said.

We were off the roof and back down the
stairs before I could make any sense of my thoughts. Mumbling something about
being right back, I escaped into the girls' restroom.

The fluorescent light fixture buzzed
audibly, winking twice, as I stumbled over to the bank of sinks under the
mirror. No one else was in there, giving it a surreal atmosphere. I twisted the
faucet handles and the water burst out in a sputter before slowing to a trickle
as it ran over my hands.

My reflection didn't seem like my own, as
I stared into the mirror. Talk about deer-in-the-headlights expression.

What the heck was happening tonight?
There'd never been any insanity in my family, but I was starting to suspect
something was wrong with me. Strange psychic connection with a guy I just met?
A tornado that's there and gone in less than a minute? My guidance counselor
lighting up like a glow stick?

Tendrils of hair had escaped my ponytail,
and not in an attractive, casual way but in a "I've been through a
storm" way. But while I could redo the ponytail and trap all the pesky
escapee hairs again, I couldn't do much else about my looks.

I was desperate to splash water on my
face, but had to be satisfied with just wetting a paper towel and placing it on
my neck. Anything else would wipe out what little semblance of make-up I had
left and my face was enough of a disaster without that. Unfortunately, I hadn't
thought to retrieve my purse and so had no access to even a lipstick.

Perhaps I could slip out of the restroom,
get past Holden, pop into the gym, get my purse, evade Holden again, and escape
back here to fix my face. It must be close to my curfew—which Dad would
be furious if I missed particularly because of the SATs tomorrow—but I
wanted to look half decent to say goodnight to the cute Viking.

Pushing the swinging restroom door to crack
it open, I peeked around the edge. No Holden in sight. In fact, no one was in
sight. The music from the dance still played, echoing faintly in the empty hall
as I slipped out and tiptoed toward it, all the while keeping watch for my
Viking. But though I'd taken a couple of turns, I didn't see him. He must have
gone back to the gym. My purse—and my make-up—were almost within
reach.

Up ahead was the intersection with the
main corridor, which would take me the final dozen feet to my destination. At
the intersection, a right turn would take me to the gym, but to the left I
heard Holden's voice, his words indistinct. Then a female voice murmured.

Since I didn't see them, I concluded
Holden must be talking to someone just beyond the elbow of the next corridor
. But who?
I wondered.
Some
other girl? Was he giving her the same line about how they'd known each other
before?

My curiosity got the better of me and I
turned left, sneaked my way to the next hall intersection. Peering around the
corner, I positioned myself to eavesdrop. Just beyond, I saw Holden, his back
to me, talking to Mrs. Gazardi. The way they stood with heads together struck
me as conspiratorial.

"If it's to happen, I should take
Eve with me right now."

"Not yet," Holden said. "I
haven't had a chance to convince her."

"You've had all evening."

"It's not easy."

"The window of opportunity isn't
that wide." Mrs. Gazardi hesitated before continuing. "Don't let your
emotions get in the way. Do what you came here to do."

Holden examined the tips of his tennis
shoes for long seconds before nodding. "Okay. But I just need a little
more time. Just until tomorrow morning."

"9:18 a.m. at the latest. Your three
days is up then."

"Yeah. Just stay outta the way,
would you? Remember. You allowed her to see me."

"So?" Mrs. Gazardi said with an
edge of sarcasm to the word.

"So that means she can see you too.
The
real
you."

"All right, I'll be out of sight
until tomorrow. But then I'm coming for her whether or not you accomplish your
mission."

Reeling back, I gasped. My breath was
like shards of glass cutting as it passed in and out of my lungs.

Mrs. Gazardi's head jerked up. The
internal glow stick returned with a vengeance and when she grimaced the teeth
behind her lips gleamed appearing like a sharks' in her head.

Holden spun around, eyes widening. He
went slack-jawed for a moment before he held up a hand as if surrendering.

For long seconds it seemed all three of
us were frozen. Recovering first, I bolted down the main corridor, away from
the gym. I ran for the front of the school.

"Eve. It's not what you think,"
Holden shouted from behind me.

Slamming into the push mechanism on the
front door, I plowed through and out into the cool night air. The grass was
slippery under my feet, so I changed course to the sidewalk. Holden caught up
with me before I made it off school grounds, grabbing me around the waist and
swinging me off my feet.

"Aghhh," I screamed, struggling
against his hold. "Put me down."

"You could hurt yourself," he
said.

My elbow made impact on his midsection.

"You were running blindly," he
said. "You could get killed, not looking where you're going."

I continued wriggling and kicking, but
his arms remained locked around me without sign of faltering.

"If I let you go will you agree not
to run off into the street?"

After a few more seconds of fruitless
thrashing, I nodded. His arms unlocked.

With feet firmly back on the sidewalk and
a pout firmly set in my mouth, I proceeded at a march in the direction of my house
a few blocks away. Holden followed a couple of paces behind.

My ballet slippers slamming against the
pavement with me stiff-legging it along was, I'm sure, a ridiculous sight. It
felt ridiculous. Besides, stomping like that hurt too, as the edges of the
shells in the tabby cement mixture pressed into the slim sole of my shoe.

Looking over my shoulder, I observed
Holden trudging along, eyes downcast to the pavement, his mouth in a morose
frown.

We reached the end of my block. The front
door of my house loomed as an escape route a few yards away but I couldn't help
stopping. Turning to Holden, I stared at him until his gaze rose to meet mine.

"Are you supposed to hurt me or
something?" I demanded.

He flinched. "No, of course
not."

"How am I supposed to believe
you?"

He shrugged, shaking his head. "If I
wanted to hurt you I could have easily pushed you off the roof earlier tonight.
I had at least two chances."

That was true.

"But when you were talking to Mrs.
Gazardi. What was that about?" My accusation was sharp. I couldn't afford
to weaken my guard just because I wanted to melt into a puddle of warm
chocolate every time I looked at Holden. His cuteness was dangerous. "Are
you helping her take me somewhere?"

"If Gazadriel was determined to take
you, she doesn't need my help," he muttered.

"What does that mean!" I
shouted, throwing up my hands "All you do is talk in riddles."

"I'm doing my best," he shouted
back, his anger was the first I'd seen from Holden this evening. Before, I
could get in another word, his whole face scrunched in misery. "I don't
know how to do this," he choked out.

"Do what?" I asked in a
whisper. Taking a step closer to him, I placed a hand on his arm. "I don't
understand anything. I don't know what to believe about you."

"If you don't believe anything
else..." Holden lifted a hand to place his palm against my face. His thumb
traced the line of my cheekbone. His sincere eyes bored into mine—I
couldn't look away. "Believe I wouldn't hurt you. I'd rather be damned for
all eternity."

The intensity of the moment made it
impossible to stay. As I backed away from his light touch, my eyes continued
locked with his for one, two, three steps, before I turned and ran the rest of
the block and up the steps to my porch.

At the front door, I peeked over my
shoulder. Holden was where I'd left him, staring at me.

Not having my purse meant not having a
key, so I knocked. Dad opened the door almost immediately.

"Honey. What—"

"Sorry," I pushed past him and
into the entranceway. Pressing a kiss on his stubbly cheek, I continued.
"Forgot my key." I didn't say where I'd forgotten it but that wasn't
lying was it?

I was halfway up the stairs before he
could respond.

"Didn't Quinn walk you home?"
he asked.

"Quinn was a jerk, so I left him at
the dance." I stopped midstride and turned to Dad with a smile.

"I knew I shouldn't have let you go
out with that kid," Dad muttered.

"I can take care of myself," I
said. Great. Now Dad wouldn't let me
 
outta the house with another boy.

"You should have called. I don't
like the idea of you walking home alone at night." Dad had been inclined
to be over protective since my mother had left us two years ago. For the first
time in a long time I really looked at Dad. Forty-six wasn't that decrepit. He
had all his hair. He could pass for that guy on Mad Men. Dad should be dating.

"Someone else walked me home,"
I said.

"Did you have a good time?" He
asked.

"Yeah, Daddy." Good time? That
hardly seemed an accurate way to characterize events that felt life changing. I
didn't know what to feel about Holden. My instincts told me to trust him. But
how could I after the things I'd heard and seen? On the other hand, some of the
things I'd seen were so crazy could I really trust my own senses?

"G'night, Daddy."

"Night." He gave a little wave
and began to walk toward the living room. "Sleep well. SATs tomorrow. You
have to be there by 10 a.m."

My Dad and his never ending quest for me
to be college material. He wanted me to go to his alma mater but it wasn't
gonna happen...not with my mediocre grades. But how to break it to him?

"Ummmm, Dad?" I said, stopping
him.

"Yes, honey?"

"Ummmm. Nothing. See you in the
morning." I would tell him then.