Unafraid (14 page)

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Authors: Michael Griffo

BOOK: Unafraid
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“Well, I have some tryouts today,” he said. “So if I make one of the teams, I guess it'll mean I'm part of the ‘in' crowd.”
Looking at his body, Saoirse had no doubt her boyfriend would make any team he tried out for and possibly give Ronan competition as unofficial top athlete on campus. He wasn't as muscular as Ronan was; he actually looked more like Michael, but way more defined. He had broad shoulders, a small waist, and long legs with lines and lines of fine blond hair all over his thighs and calves that Saoirse had found herself staring at all summer long. Shaking her head, she focused on the boy on her bed who was dressed in the Double A uniform and not the one in her mind who pranced about in a tank top and shorts. “Even if you don't make it, you'll still be part of the ‘in' crowd,” she said. “I'm sure of it.”
Unexpectedly, he sat up and pushed Saoirse down on the bed. She was startled by the sudden movement, but when she saw his face smiling down at her, adorned with a crown of curls, looking like a cross between an angel and a scalawag, she knew he was only being playful. His question, however, was a bit more businesslike. “What kind of secret lab work are you doing with your brother?”
Blast you, Ciaran! I knew someone would hear us.
“Ooh you make me sound like a spy,” Saoirse teased. Her stomach flipped when she thought about the implications of her comment. If it were true, wouldn't that make her boyfriend her enemy?
“Seriously,” he continued. “Sounded rather cryptic. What's up?”
Desperate to change the subject, Saoirse thought that if his smile could work wonders on her, hers might put a spell on him as well. “Why so many questions?” Saoirse asked, smiling as seductively as she knew how.
It didn't work. “Why aren't you answering me?” he retorted.
Boys! They really could be infuriating. Always wanting to have their way, always thinking their questions were super important, never considering for a second that they didn't have to know everything in the entire world. Infuriating, but really cute too. If only Saoirse's hands weren't being held down, she could just reach up and touch those curls, marvel at their softness. And then touch the little bit of stubble on his chin and marvel at its roughness. Infuriating, cute,
and
disorienting. If she was a spy she was the worst one in the history of spydom. Time to take back some control.
“Well, you know us spies, we don't like to be interrogated.” And if her words didn't do the trick, her actions might. In one easy move, Saoirse flipped her boyfriend on his back, his curls spilling out onto the bed like little curlicues of sunshine. The sight made her heart skip a beat, even though she knew she had to keep her wits about her until all talk of lab work and experiments had passed. When she felt his chest and stomach move underneath her and heard his deep laugh, she knew she was safe.
“That's what I like about you,” he said. “You're not like other girls; you're fearless.”
Suddenly self-conscious about lying on top her boyfriend, she rolled off of him. She stared at the ceiling and wished there were a mirror up there so she could see how they looked lying side by side, their hair freely mingling together, his a few shades lighter than her own blond hair. It must be a beautiful sight. “I've learned this past year that there isn't anything in this world that I need to be scared of,” Saoirse admitted.
“Except maybe a boyfriend.”
Saoirse wasn't completely honest when she replied, “I'm not scared of you.”
“Not yet,” he said. Turning to face Saoirse, her boyfriend wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. He closed his eyes and let instinct take over so his lips could find hers. Saoirse kept her eyes open, but only because she liked how weird his face looked so close up. His eyelashes were outrageously long, and the pores on his nose looked huge. The examination was brief because the kiss ended as quickly as it had begun. “Let's just keep us a secret for a little while longer,” he said.
Nodding, Saoirse touched the side of his face and slid her fingers deep into the labyrinth of his curls. She pulled her hand away and was transfixed by how white some of the strands looked. “I've got a lot of secrets, Morgandy,” she said. “Why not one more?”
chapter 9
So this was what it felt like to be blind.
Eyes closed, Fritz walked down the center aisle of the library in total darkness, his fingers scraping against the spines of one book after another. It wasn't so bad; in fact it was kind of interesting to feel the world instead of see it. Thick, thin, leathery, smooth, he had no idea what books he was touching, but he was amazed at how different they all felt. He had never noticed that before. Of course none of them felt as good as Ruby did.
Her arm was entwined with his, and although he could only feel a small patch of her skin, it was incredibly smooth. He figured she must use mounds of moisturizer to get it that soft. His skin, in contrast, was kind of rough in places.
He opened his right eye, just a crack, to take a peek at her. Amazing! She was one of those girls who looked just as good in profile as they did if you looked at them straight on. Fritz thought it had to do with her nose. Ruby's was perfect—not too big and, thankfully, not too small, not one of those little pug noses some girls had that Fritz hated, that made them look like they were always putting on airs, thinking they were too fancy for their own good. Her nose was even prettier than Phaedra's, and Phaedra had a really nice one. Ruby's best feature, however, were her eyes.
Peering at the girl through one half-closed eye, it was like he was spying on her through a keyhole. Fritz only saw a sliver, but it was enough. He could only see her left eye, but even from this angle it was sparkling blue, filled with light, and though it was useless it appeared to have focus. Unblinking, Ruby glided down the aisle like somebody who could see. She didn't stumble; she didn't trip; she didn't question her path. Fritz figured it had something to do with the expertise of her guide.
A smile formed on Ruby's lips, and she slowly turned to face him. Wow, he thought, she looked like she was really looking at him, like she could really see him. But if she could, then she could also see that his eyes weren't closed like he had said they were when they started to walk down the aisle. Maybe he was being paranoid, but Fritz got the strong sensation that Ruby knew he was lying.
He shut his eyes tight and was engulfed by darkness once again. He faced front, and his fingers now held onto the edge of the bookshelves for support as he walked, every once in a while getting whacked by the partitions that separated the various collections. Fritz was so discombobulated he couldn't even remember what book Ruby needed to find, let alone what section they were supposed to wind up in. Was it history? No, that wasn't it. Maybe classical mythology? He had no idea, so of course he started to panic and pick up speed. If you have no idea where you're going, might as well try to get there as fast as possible. Until you crash into something and get knocked to the ground.
“What the ... !”
When Fritz opened his eyes he saw Ruby staring down at him and Ciaran lying in a similarly awkward position at his side. “Eaves! What the hell?!” Fritz cried out. “Why'd you knock me down?”
“I didn't knock you down,” Ciaran shouted back. “You knocked into me.”
“I didn't even see you!”
“That's 'cause you had your bloody eyes closed!”
“He was doing it for me.”
Ruby's voice shut both boys up and reminded them that they weren't alone. Scrambling to stand, they both automatically started to brush their hair back into place and tuck their shirts in, even though the object of their admiration couldn't tell if they were unkempt or picture perfect.
“Hi, Ruby,” Ciaran said, a bit out of breath.
“Hi, Ciaran,” the girl replied, staring right in his direction. “Fancy meeting you here.”
Not fancy at all, calculated actually. After his rather disappointing conversation with Saoirse, Ciaran had decided to take action and make a move before Fritz made too much headway in his pursuit of Ruby. Turned out to be a worthwhile risk. “I'm always here,” Ciaran lied. “Working on a paper or something.”
“Then maybe you can help me,” Ruby said, reaching out to touch Ciaran's arm. “Would you happen to know where the science books are?”
Science! Fritz finally remembered where they were supposed to be heading.
“I need to do some research on a horticulture project, and Professor Chow told me the library actually had some books in Braille on the subject—not a complete section, but mixed in with the regular books about science,” Ruby explained. “And it seems that Fritz has lost his way.”
“I did not!” Fritz protested. “I know this library like I know the back of my bleedin' hand.”
“So were you, uh, taking the scenic route?” Ciaran asked.
Fritz felt like pushing Ciaran against the bookshelf for making such a crack, but when he heard Ruby laugh he realized it
was
kind of funny, so he just joined in. “Guess the blind really shouldn't lead the blind.”
Shocked, Ciaran couldn't believe how inappropriate Fritz could be, but surprisingly, Ruby laughed hardest of all at the joke. Both boys were impressed with how well she was transitioning; neither one thought they could be as resilient. But both thought they could be a better escort.
“Take my arm,” Fritz and Ciaran said at the same time.
Proving to be as diplomatic as she was attractive, Ruby offered a compromise. “How about you each take one arm?”
Flanking the girl on either side, the boys guided her to the small section in the far end of the library that contained books on horticulture. Fritz had never been in this part of St. Joshua's before, but Ciaran knew it quite well; it was the only part of the library that housed any type of scientific reference book, the bulk of them being stored in the Einstein Wing. “I think this might be what you're looking for,” Ciaran said, pulling out a very thick, oversized book that looked more like a giant photo album than a textbook.
“Blimey, that thing is huge!” Fritz remarked as Ciaran passed the book over to Ruby.
She ran her fingers over a series of raised bumps on the book's cover and said, “This
thing
is called
Horticulture: Principles and Practices
.” She flashed a wide grin at Ciaran. “This is exactly what I need, Ciaran, thank you.”
Smiling proudly, for Fritz's benefit of course and not Ruby's, he replied, “My pleasure.”
Fritz made a face and mouthed the words “my pleasure” to mock his friend, which only made them both start to laugh. “What's so funny?” Ruby asked.
Not wanting to rat on his friend, Ciaran made a generalization that he hoped Ruby would understand. “It's just Fritz being Fritz.”
“I can only imagine,” Ruby replied, clutching her book close to her chest. “My brother told me all about how cheeky you can be.”
Despite his reputation, Fritz tried to defend himself. “Penry called me cheeky?!”
For a moment Ruby seemed distracted. She was staring directly in between both boys, almost as if she was trying to look through the bookshelf to see what or who was on the other side. Neither boy noticed, however, as they were too busy staring at Ruby themselves. After a few seconds, Ruby refocused and tilted her head toward Fritz. “I know you've been on your best behavior, but I know all about your shady past,” she said in a hushed whisper. “Remember, Penry and I were twins. If he didn't tell me something, I just had to read his mind.”
If touché had a facial expression, it was being worn by Ciaran. Fritz, on the other hand, looked like he had just been force fed several jumbo pieces of humble pie. After a long pause, Ruby burst out laughing. She didn't need sight to know that her little hoax had had its desired effect. “Gotcha, Ulrich!”
Using Fritz's silence to his advantage, Ciaran led Ruby over to an empty table in a corner of the library. As he watched her deftly pull an assortment of objects out of her backpack, he realized this girl was quite self-sufficient and didn't need an ounce of anyone's pity. What she did command, however, was respect.
“What's that?” Ciaran asked as Ruby placed a small device that looked like an e-book with a detachable keyboard on the table.
“It's a blind student's best friend,” she replied, attaching the keyboard to the tablet. “An electronic notebook. I can type in notes, and then it'll play them back to me with text-to-voice software.”
“That's amazing!” Fritz exclaimed.
“It really is,” Ruby agreed. “I don't think I could survive here without it.” Once again she looked at the boys as if she could really see them. “Or without my new friends.”
“Ruby!”
The girl had even more friends than she knew. Or could hear. Imogene was going to run out from behind the bookshelf, but she was so happy to see Penry's twin sister that she ran right through it. Another benefit of being invisible. “Ruby, it's me, Imogene!”
“What was that?” Fritz asked.
With one touch of a button Ciaran quashed Imogene's hopes that she could be heard, if not seen. “My watch alarm,” Ciaran explained, pressing a tiny button on the side of his watch. “Sorry, Ruby, can't be late for swim tryouts.”
“Do you, um, need someone to walk you back to your dorm later?” Fritz asked, hoping he didn't sound too obvious.
Smiling, Ruby replied, “Saoirse's picking me up, and we'll head to St. Joe's for dinner.”
Without anything else to say and knowing that Blakeley would have their heads if they were late for tryouts for the new season's team, Ciaran and Fritz left Ruby with her book and newfangled device and rushed out of St. Joshua's. They had no idea that they weren't leaving her alone.
 
It was so good to see an old friend and be out of that gloomy, damp cave that Imogene didn't even care that she couldn't be seen or heard. She didn't understand why, since others could see her. The only explanation she could come up with was that Brania and Nakano had played major roles in the events that had led up to her death, so she somehow remained connected to them. Whatever the reason, it was obvious that she was changing yet again. And Imogene really didn't care; she just wanted to sit next to the girl she had once called her friend. However, it wasn't a simple task.
Imogene tried to pull out the chair next to Ruby, but once again her hand went right through the wood. It didn't matter, as long as she could be somewhere other than that cave. When Brania yelled at her just a few moments ago, Imogene didn't know where she'd wind up after she disappeared. She assumed she materialized here in the library because it was one of the places where she had always felt safe. Her head ached trying to make sense of it all, so she stopped. She wanted to enjoy every second of this respite for however long it lasted. Curious, she watched the blind girl's fingers dance over the raised bumps at an incredible speed and was overjoyed when she saw Ruby look up at her. Although Ruby couldn't see Imogene and Imogene couldn't make physical contact with Ruby, it was clear that they were each aware of the other's presence.
Imogene thought it was a good feeling, safe and familiar. Just as familiar as the scent of fresh roses that suddenly and inexplicably filled up the room.

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