The Gathering Darkness (31 page)

Amy looked at me concerned. “I think you should go see a doctor, Brooke.”

“Why? Don’t you guys find it hot?” I asked, fanning myself with a piece of folded paper I’d found inside my bag.

Christy shrugged. “It’s nice actually.”

“Seriously?” Come to think of it, after having a quick glance around, I discovered that I was the only one who was visibly sweating.

“Yeah, seriously. You’re still sick. Do you want me to get you a bottle of water?” Christy offered.

“Maybe that would help.” I smiled at her.

“I’m coming, too,” Amy said. “Do you want to come with us, Brooke?”

“Uh-uh. I think I’ll just wait here.” I handed her some change for the machine. The truth was my legs were suddenly weak.

“Okay, we’ll be right back,” Christy said.

Something was up. My stomach knotted, making me feel sick. I risked a quick glance to the top left corner of the bleachers. Sammy, Megan and Robyn shot glares my way. The knot tightened. I turned around quickly.

I found Marcus. He was sitting on the bench. His shoulders rose up and down from his efforts on the field. As if he felt me looking at him, he turned and smiled up at me. I smiled back.

After a brief rest, Marcus was back on the field. He and Jared were in the middle of an intense play, when I heard a voice that momentarily stopped my heart.

“Hi, Country Girl.”

Wide-eyed, I looked down. Luke was standing in front of the bleachers. He sprinted up the middle and plopped himself down beside me.

My mouth dropped open. “What the … how did you know where I was?”

His grin dwindled, but even when Luke wasn’t smiling it was hard to tell what mood he was in. He was gifted with a perpetual look of happiness.

“Your Aunt Rachel told me where you were.” I could tell by the change in his tone that he was disappointed in my reaction to seeing him.

“Cool.” I tried to look happy.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Evan in a break-a-way. Luke turned his attention toward the field—so did I.

Evan dribbled the ball down center field, followed closely by two Ipswich players. Marcus was in front of the opposing goal waiting for the pass. But it was clear Evan wasn’t going to pass it. The crowd yelled frantically at Evan to pass the ball.

The Vultures’ attacking offense pulled out from behind Evan and intercepted the ball from him. Jared caught up to the Vultures player, pulled out in front, and stayed within touching distance of him, waiting for an opportunity to take the ball. When he saw his chance to retrieve the ball for the Ravens, as the opposing player was about to turn and pass it to his team mate on the left, Jared maneuvered himself close enough to the Vultures player to intercept the ball.

The crowd went wild. I glanced sideways at Luke. His eyes were glued to the game. It was as if I wasn’t even beside him. I rolled my eyes and switched my focus back to the game, also.

Marcus was deep into the opponents half when Jared passed him the ball. He stopped it with his thigh. It dropped in front of him. From a distance of about ten yards from the goal, Marcus booted the ball. The crowd cheered wildly, including Luke. The ball flew through the air and into the top left corner of the net.

“Good play,” Luke said.

I smiled, tight-lipped.

While the teams switched players, he turned his attention back to me. He held his arms out for a hug. I shot a quick glance to the field. Marcus was standing by his bench back to me, drinking from his water bottle. He was having a discussion with Evan.

I felt Luke’s arm go around my back, then his other arm came across the front of me.

“You have no idea how much Boston sucks without you.” He lowered an arm, but kept one draped across my shoulders “So, are you happy here?”

That was a tough question, but I thought it best to tell him that I was.

“Believe it or not, I am happy, but I miss you guys so much.”

The sudden shrill of the referee’s whistle drew my attention back to the field. Evan and Marcus’ discussion had turned into a heated one. Marcus glanced over his shoulder in my direction. I froze. Luke looked at me and then back to the field. I didn’t like the look on Marcus’ face.

“Is … are … who’s he?” Luke finally spit the words out.

“Ah, he’s someone special.” I looked at Luke apologetically.

“Oh.” In that instant, Luke lifted his arm from around my shoulders.

Marcus had seen us and so had Evan. With a smirk on his face, Evan pushed Marcus from behind, provoking a fight. Marcus turned and lunged at Evan, grabbing him with such force it scared me. Barely breathing, I slid to the edge of my seat. A wave of adrenaline rushed over the crowd. They stood. No one was silent. They jumped up and down, trying to get a better view of the fight. In no time at all, a circle of people had formed around Marcus and Evan.

“Man, that guy’s got a temper,” Luke said.

I didn’t answer. I knew he was talking about Marcus.

Marcus knocked Evan to the ground. The spectators went wild. The rest of the crowd rushed to the circle to get a better view. The Ravens’ coach grabbed Marcus by the back of the shirt and dragged him off Evan, but he couldn’t hold Marcus back. Now standing, both brothers tense, they flew at each other again. It took a couple of guys to pull each brother off the other and hold them apart. After a long moment, Marcus flung himself out of Jared and Dave’s grips and turned to walk away. The crowd broke up. The coach blew the whistle frantically, trying to get some order.

As Marcus walked toward the bench, he glanced up at me and Luke. Evan came at him a final time pushing him from behind again. He fell, hitting his head on the bench. I jumped in the air, trying to spot Marcus on the ground. All I could see was his unmoving legs, covered in shin guards, on the other side of the bench.

Everything was a blur as I ran down the bleachers and across the track until I was outside of the dense circle of people. I couldn’t get through.

My heart sank when I heard a voice call out, “Someone call an ambulance.”

As a numb sensation crept from the top of my head down over my body, I pushed sideways through the crowd until I saw Marcus lying on his back—his eyes closed—blood leaking from a gash on his forehead.

A woman was administering to him. I wondered briefly if she was his mother. He hadn’t said she was coming. She pressed her fingers to his limp wrist. My head felt woozy. Strong arms held me up.

“Come and sit down,” Luke breathed in my ear. It was useless to argue, I hadn’t the strength to stand anymore. My knees buckled beneath me, just as Luke guided me down to the bench. I leaned against him, fighting to keep my eyes open—it was hopeless.

The will drained from me. My last thought before I passed out was of how weak I was when Marcus needed me.

Muffled sounds came back to me first, and then a cool sensation rushed through me, bringing life with it. My ears unplugged, letting the drone of the crowd back in.

I lifted my head and pushed my upper body away from Luke’s. A distant siren rang in my ears, something I hadn’t heard since I’d left Boston.

“Marcus,” I whispered.

“He’ll be okay. The ambulance is coming,” Luke soothed.

I leaned against him again, trying to focus. Evan came into view. He was standing a distance away with his arms folded smugly across his chest. The neck of his jersey hung open where it had gotten ripped during the fight.

I heaved myself to my feet and turned toward Marcus, who still lay on the ground at the other end of the bench—lifeless.

Luke grabbed my hand to pull me back.

“Luke, let me go.”

“You just fainted, Brooke.”

“I don’t care.”

Frantic now, I snatched my hand back, feeling almost strong again. I pushed past a couple of guys on our team, who graciously parted for me.

When I reached Marcus, my knees gave way. Justin steadied me as I lowered myself to the ground.

“She’s his girlfriend, Mom,” he said to the woman who was attending to Marcus.

She nodded and let me stay. I looked questioningly at Justin.

“She’s a nurse,” he said.

I sat on the ground in silence beside Marcus’ head. Afraid of hurting him, my fingers barely grazed the ends of his sweat-soaked hair.

Justin’s mom looked at me with a friendly smile and said, “He’ll be fine.”

Her words weren’t reassuring.

“But why doesn’t he wake up?” I asked in a broken voice.

And then a glorious sound came from Marcus. He moaned.

His body shifted slightly. I looked down at his face. He squinted and moaned again. Justin’s mom picked his wrist back up and checked his pulse again. I felt as if I was going to faint again, from relief this time, but held it together.

“Marcus,” I whispered.

He didn’t respond. I wiped away a trickle of blood that had found its way to the crease in his eyelid. His beautiful eyes fluttered opened, then closed, then opened more fully and focused on me. The ambulance peeled into the parking lot.

“It’s okay. You’ll be okay,” I assured him, not knowing if it was true.

“Brooke,” he said in a weak voice. His eyes fell shut again.

The crowd parted for the paramedics. Justin, who hadn’t left Marcus’ side, helped me to stand and walked me out of the way.

Marcus made no other sound or movement. He was placed on a stretcher and loaded into the ambulance. Stunned, I stood there, oblivious to the crowd around me, until I heard Evan’s voice.

Something strange happened to me in that moment. A fresh shot of adrenalin rushed through me. I grabbed the amulet and silently asked it to give me strength. My palm grew warm against the metal. It penetrated the skin of my hand, warming my body on the inside. A wave of electrical energy washed over me and through me. And in a motion so fast it nearly lifted me off the ground, the energy engulfed my body, penetrating every cell, until I felt weightless and electrified.

Evan’s voice boomed inside my head. I let the amulet drop to my chest. He didn’t seem to care that his brother was on his way to the hospital and it was because of him. I tightened my jaw and felt the heat rise to the surface of my face.

Before I realized it, I was standing in front of him. Furious, I smacked his arm. He didn’t budge. He looked at me as if he’d just noticed me there, an amused look on his face.

“Why did you push Marcus?”

“I didn’t push anyone. You should get your facts straight.” He didn’t look like the evil Evan, just the obnoxious one.

“I saw you. You pushed him from behind,” I said through clenched teeth. “I know who you really are.”

Instantly the smug look vanished from his face.

I continued to glare—to fake bravery. I hadn’t backed down from Maggie or Sammy, and I wouldn’t back down from Evan.

A smirk spread across his face. “So, Claire, if you know who I am, then come back to me and I’ll lay off Christian.”

I watched his eyes darken as he transformed into the evil Evan.

My courage wavered slightly. I swallowed hard and then blurted, “I’ll never leave him.”

“Not even to save him?” A curious eyebrow rose to a point.

“Stay away from him. We’re both more powerful than you will ever be. Don’t make us hurt you.” I bluffed, only assuming my threat was true.

Evan threw his head back in a roar of laughter. Before I could take another breath, his arms were around me. His mouth pressed to mine with such a force, our teeth scraped together. My eyes bulged. I tried to push away, but he was too strong.

“Hey man, what the hell are you doing?”

Dave, who was standing nearby, grabbed Evan’s shoulder, twisting him away from me. I sucked a huge breath of air deep into my lungs, wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, and looked around. People scurried around us to get their things together. At the Ravens’ bench, Amy and Christy were keeping Luke busy by flirting with him. No one was paying attention to Evan and me. It was obvious no one had even seen Evan knock Marcus down. Evan jerked his upper body out of Dave’s grip.

“I’m warning you, leave her alone,” Dave said, glaring at Evan. “What’s the matter with you? Your brother’s on the way to the hospital.”

Finally, Evan conceded and walked away—but not far.

“You okay?” Dave asked me.

“I’m fine, thanks.”

“Okay, let me know if he bothers you again.”

I nodded.

The moment Dave left me, Evan came back and grabbed my arm. His muscles flexed, his grip tightened. His eyes were fierce, and his mouth was set in a tight line. For an instant I was scared and cowered.

“Don’t ever threaten me.” His words were sharp and low. The black pits that were his eyes held no life, no spark.

I gripped the amulet and felt my arm flex under Evans grip. A blast of energy rose to the surface of my skin, bursting through. With a pained look, Evan snatched his hand back, and for a second, he looked like the one who was scared. I didn’t know what it was that I’d done, but I felt it too, only to me, it was not unpleasant.

“You witch!” With a feral look on his face, Evan raised his fist as if he were going to hit me.

I cringed.

“Hey, take your hands off her,” Luke said in his tough-boy voice.

Oh, no. Luke couldn’t get mixed up in this. By the time I’d turned around, Luke was already at my side shoving Evan backwards.

“Luke, don’t. Please. Let’s just go.” I knew from experience that once Luke had gotten his feathers ruffled, there was no stopping him.

Evan raised his fist ready to throw a punch, his eyes black as pitch. A whistle blew.

“Hey, you two. Break it up.”

I was the only one who turned in the direction of the coach’s voice. Evan and Luke had a good grip on each other.

“Evan, you’re already suspended from soccer, do you want a suspension from school, too?” the coach bellowed.

I jumped in between Luke and Evan. “Luke, c’mon let’s get out of here.” I pushed on his chest. “I need you to take me to the hospital.”

He hesitated, probably deciding what was more important; me, or not losing the fight.

With an angry tone, I said, “Luke, you can’t win, now c’mon.” I pulled at his T-shirt until he finally conceded and walked away with me. Luke was the first to back down. I would never hear the end of it.