Shadow Keeper (7 page)

Jagged teeth ripped across my chest and tore at the flesh. Crimson blood spurted from the wound. A gnarled, hairy hand jutted out of the dark shroud. Long claws slashed at me and ripped open the skin on my legs. I cried out in agony. More blood gushed from the fresh wounds. My strength waned. My grip on Lisa weakened. I shook my head in denial. She needed me. I couldn’t let her slip away.

Through the darkness, a faint ray of light shone in the distance. A voice called my name. I tried to answer, but the words gurgled in my throat. Something latched onto my shoulder and shook me. I struggled to pull free. My name echoed all around. I tried to open my eyes. I needed the light to help Lisa, but my lids were too heavy.

Whatever held me squeezed my shoulder tighter and shook me harder. I pushed it away, but it came back, this time with a vengeance. A forceful blow struck me across the face. The heaviness lifted from my eyelids. A brilliant light flashed in front of me. I lifted one arm to shield my eyes. Someone cried out my name.

I lowered my arm. “Stevie?”

He sniffed back a heavy sob. “You were having a nightmare.”

“A nightmare?” How could that be? It seemed too real, too vivid.

I sat up on the bed so the desk lamp didn’t shine into my eyes. I glanced at my bare chest. No gaping wound. No gushing blood. I threw back the covers and looked at my legs. Nothing. I brushed my hand over my chest and thighs just to make certain. No pain lingered there. I rubbed my hand across my face. My cheek stung. The skin tingled, but only on my left side. Bewildered, I glanced at Stevie.

“I’m sorry.” His lower lip quivered.

“For what?”

“You wouldn’t wake up,” he said. “I kept shaking you and yelling at you, but you wouldn’t wake up.”

Still a little dazed, I stared at him, but when he hid his hand behind his back, I figured it out. “You slapped me?”

“You were scaring me.”

I opened my mouth and moved my jaw from side to side. The joint near my ear popped. “Did you have to hit me so hard?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Forget it.” I flopped back on the bed. “Will you put out the light?”

“Can I sleep with you?”

I glanced at the clock on the desk. “It’s only one–thirty.” I let out a heavy groan. “I have to get some sleep.”

“Please,” he begged.

I patted at the spot next to the wall. “Turn out the light and get in.”

In a flash, he flipped off the lamp and crawled over my legs to the far side of the bed.

“What are you going to do next year when I go away to college?” I asked after he settled under the covers.

“Nothing,” he said over a big yawn. “You won’t be here to wake me up in the middle of the night with one of your stupid nightmares.”

Chapter Nine

“Brendon.”

“Lisa,” I whispered as she materialized in front of me. Her moist lips curved into a delicious smile. Her long blonde hair swished across my bare chest as she bent over me. She leaned closer. Her warm body pressed against mine.

“Brendon.”

“Yes, Lisa.”

“Quit calling me that.”

“But, Lisa—”

Her hand smacked me hard across the face. My vision blurred. I squeezed my eyelids shut and opened them again. I focused on the face in front of me.

Stevie stood beside the bed fully dressed. “Mom said to wake you up.”

I rubbed at my cheek. “Did you just slap me?”

“You’re going to be late for school.”

“You little shit!”

“I’m going to tell Mom you said a bad word.”

“I don’t care.” I threw back the covers and sat up on the bed. “If you hit me again, I’m going to turn you over my knee and spank your butt.”

“Mom!” Stevie dashed from the room.

I propped my elbows on my knees and rubbed my fingers through my hair. A minute ago, I’d been sound asleep. And instead of dreaming about some large, scabby looking thing trying to rip me to shreds, I’d been having a good dream. A hot one—with Lisa in it. I wanted to crawl back under the covers and let her return to me.

“Brendon.” Mom stood in the doorway, one hand on the doorknob, the other on her hip. “Did you just call your brother a name?”

“Yeah, and I’m going to do a lot worse to him if he ever bitch–slaps me again.”

“Brendon! That’s enough.” Her hand dropped to her side. “Is something wrong? You never swear, especially in front of your brother.”

“He hit me in the face while I was asleep.”

“Are you sick?”

My mouth dropped open as I stared at her. Didn’t she hear the part about her precious little brat smacking me?

“Are you going to school today?”

“Yes.”

“Then you’d better hurry,” she said. “Carson should be here in a few more minutes.”

I glanced at the clock. “Oh, crap.”

“Brendon,” she said in a tone that sounded like a warning.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll watch my language.” I hopped off the bed and pulled open the dresser drawer. “Where are all my clean clothes?”

Mom shrugged. “There’s a basket full of dirty laundry in the garage.”

“I heard Grandma say she did the wash yesterday.”

“I know she did a load of Krystal’s clothes.”

Stevie stuck his head into the room, but stayed close to Mom. “Carson is here.”

“Crap!” I grabbed my jeans hanging over the chair. The blue shirt I’d worn last night lay crumpled on the floor. “Could you all please get out? I’d like to at least put on a clean pair of underwear before I go to school.”

****

When the lunch bell rang, I was so ready. My stomach growled from lack of food. Grandma had fried a couple eggs and rolled them up in a flour tortilla this morning. I’d managed to grab that before dashing out the door, but in the pickup, Carson had ripped half the egg burrito from my hand before I’d taken a bite. My lunch was stashed in the locker and I headed for it now.

A groan rumbled in my throat when I spotted Carson and Paul waiting by the lockers. I wasn’t going to share my food. Their parents had money. They could buy something at the Burger Barn. Whatever Grandma threw in the sack was all I had to eat until I got home.

“Dude.” Paul slapped me on the back. “You dog, you!”

“X–man.” Carson threw an arm around my neck and tried to get me in a head lock. “I’m your best friend. How come I’m the last to know?”

I twisted out of his grip. “What are you talking about?”

“It’s all over school,” he said.

“What is?”

“Look at you, trying to act all innocent.” Paul swiped a fake punch at me. “Dude! Give us the details about last night.”

I scratched at the stubble on my neck while glancing at the two of them. They both had weird grins. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

About that time, Sherry came storming down the hallway in our direction. The tight twist of her lips meant she was about to tear Paul a new one, but she shot past him and shoved at my chest with both hands. I stumbled backward and slammed against the lockers.

“Dang, Sherry.” I rubbed at my chest. “You ought to try out for the football team.”

She shoved me against the lockers again. “What’s the idea of spreading all those filthy lies about you and Lisa?”

My mouth dropped open. Carson and Paul’s grins got wider, but Sherry glared at me through narrowed eyelids.

“Have you all gone crazy?” I asked.

Her fists thrust against her hips. “What happened last night with you and Lisa?”

“Lisa?” With the crazy nightmare that seemed to stretch on forever, it seemed like days since I’d seen her. I shrugged while trying to recall last night. “She came to my house to ask about homework.”

“Is that all?” she asked.

I went over the details of her visit in my mind. The part about homework was true. And then we’d gone into my bedroom and I almost kissed her, but other than Grandma and Krystal, no one else knew. “Yeah, that’s all.”

“So nothing happened at the minimart?”

There went my gaping mouth again. Maybe those hard smacks Stevie had given me damaged my jaw muscles. “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean. Lisa said the two of you just talked, but you’ve been spreading nasty rumors all over school that something else happened.”

“I haven’t talked to anyone about it.”

“Then why is she in the girls’ bathroom right now crying her eyes out?”

“I don’t know, Sherry,” I snapped. My patience was growing thin. “Why don’t you tell me what it is that she claims I’m supposed to have said?”

“It’s not her. It’s everyone one in gym class. All the girls are talking about it, especially Regina. Lisa didn’t even know what it meant, and I had to explain it to her.”

“What did you have to explain?” I asked, still bewildered.

She stepped closer and lowered her voice. “A hummer.”

“You mean her car?”

“Don’t act innocent.” Her voice returned to the higher pitch.

Paul nudged Sherry. “You know what a hummer is?”

“Shut up, Paul,” she said. “I’m not talking to you.”

“X–man,” Carson yelled. “You ‘da man.”

“You shut up, too.”

The light bulb in my brain flashed on and my hands clenched into fists. “Watkins,” I blurted out. “His little brother is a junior. I’ll kill him. I’ll kill them both.”

“What does Watkins have to do with it?” Sherry asked.

“Lisa and I met at the minimart last night. I got in her car so we could talk. And then…” And then Lisa had been all over me, rubbing her hands and body on me. I wasn’t sure how to explain that even if I wanted to. That part was personal. I decided to stick with the impersonal part, although I’d have to improvise. “The passenger seat was too far up, and, ah, with my long legs, I was cramped. I tried to adjust the seat back, but couldn’t figure out the knobs. Lisa bent over me to find the button, but her elbow dug into my…my belly.”

Carson and Paul snickered. From the smirks on their faces, they knew right where she jabbed me, but I continued. “I doubled over in pain and smacked into Lisa. She tumbled onto the floorboard. I got out of the car so I wouldn’t step on her. That’s when Bill Watkins showed up. When Lisa crawled out of the car on my side, he jumped to his own conclusion.”

“So Bill’s brother is the one spreading the rumor and not you?”

“That’s right.”

Sherry’s lips twisted into a grimace. “Tim Watkins is in my next class. I’m going to talk to him and straighten this out.”

“Good luck with that.” I didn’t bother to hide the cynicism in my tone. “Rumors never die, especially the bad ones. Just take a look at my two buddies.”

Sherry glanced at Paul and Carson.

“See those stupid grins on their face. They just heard me swear it was all a lie, but they’d rather believe the rumor.”

They sputtered out excuses and denials, but Sherry looked at me. “Then what am I going to tell Lisa. She’s about ready to call her mother to pick her up, but her mom works at UC Davis and it will take forty–five minutes for her to get here.”

“Let me talk to Lisa.”

“You can’t. She’s in the girls’ bathroom, and I don’t know if I can get her out.”

I shook my head as the frustration grew. I grabbed Sherry’s arm and pulled her closer so I had her complete attention. “Tell Lisa not to leave. It’ll only make it harder to face everyone when she does come back.”

“What’s she going to do when everyone starts snickering at her when she walks into class?” Sherry’s dark eyebrows creased together. “You should’ve seen the way everyone acted in gym.”

“Her next class is with me.” I rubbed my fingers through my hair while I thought. “Tell her to walk straight in and hold her head high because she has nothing to be embarrassed about. And if anyone says anything, I’ll take care of them.”

****

In Spanish, Carson and I sat at our usual desks. I wasn’t sure if Lisa would make it to class, but if she did, she probably wouldn’t want to sit in front of me.

I opened my text book only to realize she still had my homework. A missing assignment didn’t seem like much of a problem compared to what she faced, but this complicated the situation. If Lisa did show up, I’d have to ask her for my homework.

The usual chatter in the room rose for a second, then stilled to a deadly silence. I didn’t need to look up to know Lisa had walked into the room, but I glanced up anyway.

Her head was down, but her hair didn’t cover her face. She had it pulled back into a braid.

All eyes were on her as she stood by the door. For a second, it looked like she might bolt. She took a quick peek out of the corner of her eye and her gaze locked onto mine. A change came over her. Her spine straightened, her shoulders squared, and her chin came up. She reminded me of a field goal kicker facing the fierce rush of an entire line, but had the courage to stay strong and kick a perfect goal.