Soul Fire (11 page)

Meanwhile, I called Ashla’s mom. She said she’d have her mother stay with the daycare kids so she could leave right away. “You need a ride to the ER, Celeste?” she sounded out of breath.

I said, “It would be best if you go right to the hospital. I’ll get there on my own.” Half an hour later, Delta and I were anxiously waiting outside the ER. I seemed to be spending a lot of time there lately. After Ashla had been loaded into the ambulance, I had suggested that Tara and Brenna go home. We would call them with an update on Ashla.

I was in the emergency waiting room, pacing the floor, waiting to hear how Ashla was doing. Delta was standing, legs astride, hands on hips, staring out the window. He hadn’t moved since we arrived. I had always avoided him, as I did any of the Tarantulas, but I could see there was more to this guy than any of us knew. Watching him, I realized I wasn’t the only one concerned about Ashla. He hadn’t said a word since we arrived, but every time someone came out of Emergency, he jumped. Something was going on with that.

An hour later, Laine came into the waiting room to give us an update. She looked wiped. “Ashla’s doing a little better,” she told us. “Because of her previous concussion, the doctor is concerned. She has been admitted and will be moved up to the ward once she stabilizes.

“Is she conscious?” I asked.

“She’s pretty disoriented.” Laine looked from me to Delta. “What exactly happened?”

I knew Ashla hadn’t told her parents about being bullied at school, so I felt conflicted. Do I tell them? Or not? I didn’t want to up-step Ashla, but this was getting pretty serious. Given the fact that my best friend was in Emergency, I decided to risk Ashla’s wrath and give Laine a quick rundown. I explained what it had been like for Ashla the past few weeks.

Laine listened, her expression grim. “I don’t believe this,” she whispered. “It doesn’t make any sense. A girl like Ashla, being . . . being . . .”

“
Bullied
,” Delta supplied.

Laine stared at him. “
Bullied?
”

I interrupted. “Did Ashla ever tell you what happened to her the day she overdosed?”

Laine’s eyes registered a new level of pain. “No.”

I glanced at Delta hoping he would take over. Thankfully, he did. “A big guy, Rand Riley, took her down. Kicked her. Punched her in the stomach. Happened in class before the math teacher got there.”

Laine collapsed into a chair. “Why didn’t she tell us? We never hold back in our family. We talk about everything. I don’t understand.” Her voice quivered. She looked up at Delta. “Was that why she took Ecstasy?”

Delta met her gaze and held it. “She was in bad shape that day. I heard what happened to her from a friend of mine who saw it. Knew she’d bail, so I went out looking for her. Found her in the park. Looked like she’d been there for hours.”

“Why didn’t she come home?” Laine looked at Delta accusingly. “And why didn’t you bring her home, like you should have?”

“If she’d wanted to go home, she would have.”

Laine appeared shell shocked. “I just can’t believe things could have gotten this bad without Ashla coming to us about it.” She ran her hands through her hair in frustration. “I’m going to take this up with the principal. This stops now. How in the heck can the school let this happen?”

I had wondered the same thing over the last couple of years. “I just hope Drake takes you seriously.”

Laine's confusion was obvious. “I’m sure he will." She pushed out of the chair and faced me. "How did all this get started?”

Delta replied, “Ashla has always been part of an elite group of kids the rest of us call the ‘Untouchables’. They’re the pampered kids. They exist in a silver-lined bubble.” He turned to me. “Ashla, you, Brenna, Tara, all of you.” He ran his hand around the back of his neck. “After the ski accident, news got out that the ski resort had officially found Ashla in the wrong for being on that closed run. The media made a huge noise about it and made it sound like Ashla had committed some reprehensible crime.”

Laine nodded, her face suddenly crimson. “We saw that.”

Delta continued, “Justin Ledger has super star status at our school, in fact, in the whole Seattle area. The media got everybody mad. That happens easily when it comes to hockey in this town, and especially if it involves Justin. Almost instantly, everyone vented all over Ashla. She became the target of their anger and their outrage, real or not. Ashla’s friends cut and ran, or to be more accurate, they cut her out, so she lost protection from her peers and became extremely vulnerable. In other words, she became open season for just about everyone, but especially for the Tarantulas. Ashla's sudden vulnerability presented a rare opportunity to lay into, pardon me for saying this, one of the snobs—”

“Ashla’s no snob!” Laine and I reacted almost in unison.

“No, she’s not, but a lot of them are. They have things other kids never dare to dream of. Believe me, for that reason alone, there’s a ton of pent up anger toward the
popular kids
who appear to have everything.”

Laine was chewing on this. “Back up for a sec. Who and what are the Tarantulas?”

“Mount Olympic’s very own wannabe gang of trouble makers.”

“Are they from poor homes?”

“Not all of them. ”

“Is this a class issue? I mean Bryan and I work hard and we live comfortably, but we’re not
wealthy
.”

“It’s not about that, it’s the fact that Ashla is one of the
popular kids
. That single fact, by itself, generates jealousy.”

“Laine tried to process this. “So, how does one run down a ski slope result what's been happening to Ashla? And how can these kids breed this kind of hatred for a girl like Ashla?”

Delta shook his head. “Mako, our rock thrower, does that stuff all the time, just for kicks. His hatred is internal. It lives inside of him. He’s virtually a monster. You’ve got to understand. His
need
to brutalize others comes from
within him
. It’s a powerful force
.
He’s always on the hunt for vulnerable targets. Unfortunately, Ashla put herself in his crosshairs by taking out our school hero.”

I was shocked. “So, she’s screwed.”

“Pretty much. Mako has a scary need for violence. Having him after you is serious business.”

Listening to Delta, I was astounded by his understanding of a fellow gang member. “Jeez, you sound like some kind of shrink.” I told him unceremoniously. “And just think, you’re one of those guys.”

He cast me a sideways glance. “Know thy enemy.” He looked from me to Laine. “I hope you’re both getting this. There are more than a few members of the Tarantulas that fear Mako. He’s volatile and downright dangerous. You don’t turn your back on him, and you don’t get on the wrong side of him.”

A warning went off inside me. “But didn’t you just do that by helping Ashla when he threw the rock at her?

Delta turned back to the window and said nothing more.

Laine folded her arms across her chest as if to shield herself from the raw truth. “This is surreal. All of it.”

My voice sounded strange, “It seems to be our new reality.”

We each sank into our own thoughts as we contemplated the perilous certainty of Ashla’s situation. Then, Laine walked over to Delta. “Thanks for looking after Ashla. The paramedics said you did all the right things.”

Delta shrugged and again I wondered why he had jumped in to help Ashla and at great risk to himself. The gang would likely turn on him now. Yet, Delta was obviously more worried about Ashla. If nothing else, the fact that he was here in this waiting room, said it all.

I tuned back into what Laine was saying. “The paramedics said that they know you. They told me that you have most of the same medical emergency training that they have. Is that because of your mom?”

Delta glanced back at me. I’d obviously just heard something he didn’t want soiling his tough image. “Don’t worry,” I reassured him, “I’m not going to rat you out.”

“Make that a promise,” he growled and turned back to Laine. “I know most of the paramedics. They’ve been to our house a lot over the past three years.”

Jeez, I thought, and wondered why that would be. Someone in his family must be sick.

Laine’s eyes went to the clock that hung on the wall above us. “They won’t allow Ashla any visitors outside of immediate family, so why don’t I run you two home?”

I shook my head. “I’ll catch the bus, Laine. You stay with Ashla.”

“Likewise,” Delta added.

When we were outside, I said to him: “There seems to be more to Delta that any of us know.”

He gave me a cool look. “Let’s keep it that way.”

“Why? Because you’re a Tarantula?”

“Partly, but the truth is, there’s no alternative for a guy like me.”

“How so?”

He stopped and considered me before answering. “Because, if you’re one of them, they leave you alone.”

I stared at him, dumbfounded.

He clarified: “With everything that’s going on in my life, they would have crucified me long ago. Being one of them is the only way to prevent that.”

The next day, Tara, Brenna, and I were crossing the school grounds after class when someone yelled, “Fight!” Like a gun had gone off, everyone started running every direction, some toward the fence, some the opposite way, and some off the school grounds. We were hurrying away with the latter group when I heard a guy yell, “It’s Delta and Mako!”

I stopped.
Delta
? A sick feeling swept through me. Were the Tarantulas getting even with Delta? Or, was he getting even with Mako?

Looking around frantically, I tried to see where the fight was. A crowd was forming down by the back fence, just off the grounds, so I ran that way, Tara and Brenna beside me. We zigzagged and pushed through the on-lookers until we reached the inner edge of the semi-circle. What I saw stunned me. Delta and Mako were circling each other. Evenly matched in size, both were a slim six feet, but Delta must have studied martial arts. Every time Mako went at him, Delta’s foot or hand shot out and Mako went down hard. The crowd was unusually quiet. Some yelled out Delta’s name and encouragement, but most watched in silence. I couldn’t recall hearing of two members of the Tarantulas fighting each other.

Mako was getting creamed, but that didn’t stop him from swearing at Delta and calling out, “Traitor!” Mako threw a punch at Delta, but Delta ducked, his hand shot out karate style and Mako doubled over, falling backward onto the grass. Soon, he wouldn’t get up. He was losing steam, but that didn’t stop him from declaring: “You’re a dead man, Delta. Hear me? A dead man!”

Delta didn’t respond, just kept his eyes on Mako. Then, Mako went after him one last time. Delta whirled around, his leg shot out, and Mako flew backwards, sliding across the damp grass. He was out of breath and his eyes were on Delta, but he didn’t move. Delta stood over him, “Listen up, Man. Ashla is off limits. Take her on again and you’ll be one sorry SOB.”

Mako glared up at him, eyes brimming with venom, but he kept quiet.

Reaching down, Delta grabbed him by the shirt. “She’s off limits. Get it?” Delta straightened up and scuffed the ground next to Mako’s cheek. “Only a coward goes after a girl, you loser.”

Mako spat on Delta’s boot, but said nothing more. Delta scanned around the crowd. “That goes for anyone else who wants to take on Ashla. She does a lot for this school. Most of you know that. There’s no way she deserves what many of you are dishing out.” He grabbed his pack off the ground and slung it angrily over his shoulder. As he passed me, he took my arm and turned me around, pushing me back through the crowd. Tara and Brenna followed. “Get out of here,” he whispered. “Meet me at the library in half an hour.” Then, he disappeared into the masses.

“Hurry up, Celeste,” Tara said. “Do what he says.” A group of students was boarding the city bus. We joined them, arriving at the library a short while later. Tara, Brenna, and I stood outside waiting for Delta. Brenna shivered. “Pinch me. Tell me all this isn’t happening.”

“Yeah. I feel like I’ve gone down a rabbit hole,” Tara whispered. “Or maybe a rat hole.”

I nodded in agreement, still reeling from the fight.

When Delta joined us, he appeared rattled. “Let’s go inside and find a corner where we can talk.” We hiked up to the second floor and we followed him to a quiet alcove away from everyone. He obviously spent time there.

“Who started the fight?” I asked.

“Me.”

We gaped at him.

“Mako set a trap. He had a dozen guys waiting for me down the road. I had to make the first move.” He reached behind him and pulled a book from the shelf. We took the hint and did the same. He continued, “I broke an unwritten rule. The Tarantulas stand united. We support each other, wrong or right, without question. But I didn’t do that yesterday. I went against a fellow soldier.”

“Mako,” I supplied. I knew they called themselves soldiers, but it sounded strange to hear it, especially when that was the last thing any of them reminded me of. “Why did you help Ashla, knowing they would go after you?”

He shrugged. “I saw Ashla go down. It was a knee jerk reaction.”

It was more than that, I knew.

Brenna said shakily, “Wow, I hope some day a guy will do that for me. Pretty impressive. I guess you must really like her.”

We stared at Brenna. She’d nailed it. Delta looked uncomfortable but said nothing.

I took us back to the fight. “Mako said you’re a dead man. I don’t imagine he was kidding.”

Brenna blanched and fell back in the chair. Delta shrugged.

“Today didn’t go as he had planned, but I got the message. Those dozen guys will be waiting for me again, only next time they’ll do what they need to do.”

“Ho-ly,” Brenna blurted out. She seemed disoriented.

“So, what are you going to do?” I asked him, worried.

“I’ve got friends in the Tarantulas too. I’ll talk to them tonight. We’ll figure it out.”

I felt like I’d dropped down the rabbit hole along with Tara. “Why did you rush us off the grounds?”

Delta looked from one of us to the other. “You’ve got to stay out of their sights now. Be invisible. They’re going to turn on you next if you don’t. There are a dozen guys in the gang who are extremely violent. Trust me, you don’t want to be on their radar.”