Riser (Teen Horror/Science Fiction) (Book #1 in The Riser Saga) ((Volume 1)) (21 page)

And he was gone, out the second floor window before I could say good-bye.

I wanted to giggle uncontrollably from the amount of excitement pumping through my veins. Ryan really liked me. For once in my life something was actually going my way.

The door opened and Jason Keroff walked in.

Lame.

Me of three days ago would have killed for this moment, but a lot can happen over a seventy-two hour period, and seeing Jason there was a cruel wake-up call to last night’s events.

“School. Come on. You’re going.” Jason was barking out orders with a grin. It was rather irritating.

“School? Are you joking? Where’s Nancy?” I groaned and threw back the poofy comforter that was the down fluffiness of perfection.

“I’m right here.” Nancy came in like a goddess. Her hair and make-up looked as if she had stepped out of a fashion magazine and her outfit of jeans and a tank fit her like a glove. I noticed she was wearing the sandals she bought the other day when we were at the mall.

When I saw her, I wanted to tell her everything that just happened with Ryan, but Jason was there so it would have to wait. I ran across the room and hugged her as hard as I could. She nearly fell over from the force and smiled.

“Good to see you, too.” Then she pushed me away and smacked me on the arm.

“Ow.” I massaged the place where she hit me.

Nancy waved her finger in front of my face in a threatening manner. “Don’t you EVER try and leave again! I don’t care if you think you’re saving the world! We are a team! I knew the risks from the beginning and I don’t care, got me?!”

“I didn’t want any of you to get hurt,” I said rather sheepishly. I felt like I was being grounded or something.

Nancy placed her hands on my shoulders, making forced eye contact with me. “Promise me.”

A warm feeling of relief and comfort overwhelmed me for a second. Nancy was the very definition of a best friend. And I knew in that moment she’d risk her life for me. Frankly, she already had, just by being near me.

“I promise, Nancy, geez.” My lungs were suddenly squeezed of every last drop of breath as Nancy crushed me in one of her bear hugs. She let go and I gasped for air with a genuine laugh.

“We were so worried. You should have seen Ryan, he was a crazy man trying to find you.” Nancy rolled her eyes.

Hearing about Ryan made my stomach churn with excitement. I wished he didn’t have that kind of control over my mental state of being, but there was nothing I could do about that. I just had to come to terms with the fact that Ryan made my head spin. Waking up next to him was like a dream. He genuinely liked me. Oh boy, there went the stomach again. I had to stop thinking about him.

“And this guy.” Nancy nodded her head toward Jason who was now sitting on her bed. “He’s a complete waste of time. What was he thinking getting you all shot at like that?” she said it in an almost flirtatious way.

To my surprise, Jason smiled back at Nancy with just as much
flirt
as she was giving. “I got her out safe, didn’t I?” Jason stood up from the bed, eyeing Nancy with interest.

That’s when I flipped out. “You got
me
out safe? Me? Was that when you were huddled in a ball? Or when you were sucking your thumb until I made all the men with
guns
go away? Was that when you saved me?”

Jason’s smile didn’t budge. He even looked at me like he was endeared by what I had to say. “I didn’t suck my thumb.”

“Might as well have,” I mumbled angrily under my breath.

Jason scuffed my head like I was a five-year-old. “You saved my life and I thank you very much for it. Are you happy now?”

I remembered what he had started to say before our attack last night:
I know what he did to you….
“You said you knew what Turner did to me last night! Did you mean it? What did he do?” I was charged with excitement.

“Oh yeah that.” Jason motioned around the room indicating that it may be bugged. “I can’t remember.”

My heart sank. I’d have to wait until later, until we could talk in a secured location. It was so strange that people could actually be listening to our every word. And if Nancy’s house was bugged, then I had to assume they had heard everything I said to Nancy and Ryan for the last two days, which meant Turner would know about my power. And he’d have heard the conversation Ryan and I just had. I should have known better. I really hoped Jason was wrong.

Jason saw the panic in my eyes and leaned in to whisper. “I have something with me that will let me find the bug. Leave it to me, okay?”

Nancy must not have liked the intimacy of our conversation because she stepped in to say, “Get ready for school, Chelsan. We have to leave in ten minutes.”

“I’m not going to school! You’re both insane!” I was still a little panicked by the whole situation. That’s when I noticed all of Nancy’s holo-pictures of Jason were mysteriously absent from her wall. “I see you took all of your…”

That was all that came out of my mouth before Nancy shoved her hand over it to shut me up. “Seriously, get ready.”

I pried her hand away and crossed my arms in a final attempt to keep my ground.

Nancy shook her head and looked at me seriously. “Chelsan, it’s the best place for you. We have to keep you as public as possible. School is the safest place you can be right now.”

“Did you guys discuss all this while I was sleeping?” I had to admit it made sense, but for some reason I was grumpy and more than that, I was just plain scared. If it were up to me I’d hide in Nancy’s closet all day (probably where she hid all of Jason’s holo-pics).
Keep you as public as possible…
It made me think of Ryan and what he told me about staying in the public so Turner couldn’t kidnap him. I decided to tell Nancy and Jason everything right there. If my grandpa were listening it wouldn’t be anything new.

Nancy seemed way more interested in the fact that Ryan had snuck in to be with me (like a true friend would) but Jason’s face scrunched with worry and what’s worse… recognition.

“I’ve heard about those although there’s never been any proof. Conspiracy theorists call them
I.Q. Farms
. I’ll find out what I can.” Jason’s brain was already spinning with a plan.

Nancy grabbed my arms and shook me lightly in exaggerated exasperation. “Now get ready. My mom is making a special breakfast for that loser.” Nancy hid a smile.

“And this
loser
is very hungry, so I’ll see you two later.” Jason winked at Nancy and strode out the door with a confident swagger.

As soon as he was gone, Nancy nearly screeched with excitement. “Did you see that? He totally digs me.”

Her excitement was infectious and I cracked a smile. “He definitely perks up when you’re around. I think he’s scared to death of me. You should have seen how he flipped out when I …” I didn’t know if I was ready to tell her what I had done last night. I was suddenly afraid she’d never want to see me anymore.

“He told us everything, dork. You don’t have to hide anything from me to protect me. I’ve told you before, we’re in this together, okay?” Nancy gave me a quick hug and a reassuring smile.

“It was pretty crazy.” I sighed in relief and made her lean over so I could whisper all the details I could remember about the incident last night, including the fact that the less flesh corpses had, the harder they were to control.

Nancy whispered back, “You should write that down for Jason. Give him something more to go on.” Nancy walked over to her closet and tossed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt on her bed. “Wear that. My wardrobe is officially yours. And if you don’t tell me every single detail about Ryan showing up in
my
bed, I’m going to have to kill you.”

“Thanks.” As I changed into the outfit I gave Nancy a play by play of this morning. She squealed in all the right places and high fived me when I told her that he liked me ever since he tutored me last year.

Nancy eyed me up and down as if inspecting a piece of meat. “Perfect. Ryan and Bill will be at each others throats by noon.” My eyes must have grown round with horror because Nancy shook her head. “I’m kidding! I just meant that you look great.”

“I think you should know; Jason is at least seventy-years-old.” I wanted to tell her before she started liking him too much. Most people didn’t care about age differences since almost everyone looked the same age anyway, but I wanted to give Nancy a heads up just in case it bothered her.

“Actually, he’s ninety-five!” From the way her eyes lit up, I guessed Nancy didn’t care at all. “It’s so romantic. I always wanted to be with an older man and Jason is… well… he’s perfect.”

“You certainly insult him enough.” I smiled at her doey eyes. I’d never witnessed Nancy liking
anyone
before
,
mainly because no one would go near her on the account of being my friend. Seeing her so fired up about someone was nice. It made me feel like life was normal, even if just for a second.

“We’re just flirting. He knows I don’t mean it. Besides, I think he likes it. What a freak,” she said with a grin that had no signs of leaving her face any time soon.

“All right, crush girl, let’s go to school.” I smiled.

“Crush girl? You and Ryan are the ones who are finally speaking after a year of pining over each other. At least I’m being bold.” Nancy was almost offended, but her grin stayed in tact.

“Fine. I’m crush girl, you’re slut girl.” I ducked before Nancy could hit my head with a laugh.

Nancy laughed with me and put her arm in mine as we walked to her door. “Hopefully school will be uneventful and boring. I need to have at least one day of relaxation.”

Great. Now I knew I was in for trouble. Might as well dare the universe to spit on us. But of all the places I could be right now, school did appear to be the safest. Jill would seem like a good friend compared to what I had been through the last couple of days.

“Can we eat something? I’m starving.” I knew we were short on time, but I needed a full stomach to face the day.

“Sure. We can watch my mom fumble over every word with Jason. I swear she’s driving him crazy!” Nancy rolled her eyes.

“Unlike you.” I couldn’t resist.

“I’m driving him crazy in
other
ways.” Nancy squeezed my arm with a small laugh.

We walked down the winding stairs and made our way through the house to the kitchen table. Jason was there with George and Vianne fawning over his every word. It was kind of cute. Jason was the oldest by far of the entire group. George and Vianne were only in their forties, though everyone at the table looked eighteen.

Vianne’s eyes lit up when she saw us enter. “Girls, sit down. Have a quick bite.”

The doorbell rang at that very moment.

George stood up as if being with three girls and Jason put him at his limit of tolerance. “I’ll get that,” he mumbled under his breath as he hurried to the front door.

Nancy and I sat down across from Jason who was stuffing a cheese omelet in his mouth.

“Jason, here, was just telling me how brave you were last night, Chelsan.” Vianne smiled from ear to ear.

I nearly choked on my toast. Did Jason really tell her what happened? My mind raced. She obviously seemed fine about the whole thing, proud even, but the more people that knew my secret the more danger they would be in. I was about to respond when Jason cut me off.

“If Chelsan hadn’t noticed that mugger and called the cops, that poor lady would have been breathing through a tube the rest of her life.” Jason smiled eagerly at me.

So proud of himself. What an idiot. Why would he even make that up?

“Anyone would have done the same.” I jammed a fork full of scrambled eggs before I was forced to say anything more.

Jason’s annoyed eyes met mine. “Vianne was just asking why we came in so late last night. Filling out paper work, giving our statements. It was a good thing Nancy was there for support. I know Chelsan really appreciated it.”