Chapter 19
Team Raven
Cresta
The day the Blood Moon rose, I was basically getting my ass kicked. I wheezed, laying crumpled on the forest floor, with my chest rising and falling in sharp shallow breaths.
“Again!” Royce yelled from over me. He had knocked me down for the third time with that damned stick and I was in no rush to make it a fourth. But I needed to do this and, even though I was pretty sure that even Royce couldn’t turn me into some Amazonian warrior in one day, something was better than nothing.
“I said again, Sweetheart,” he said in that twangy drawl that simultaneously irked and tickled me. “I even said it all serious and whatnot.”
“She’s tired. Give her a break,” Casper said, swinging his legs back and forth from atop a nearby stump. Looking down at me, he asked, “You want me to get you some water or something?”
“Sure,” Royce said, jabbing the stick into the ground so that it stuck straight up. “What don’t you get her some of those fancy French cookies while you’re at it? I’m sure that, when the Council finds out what we’re doing tomorrow, they’ll want to break for tea and crumpets before they cut our hearts out.”
“Calm down, Eastwood. I’m getting up,” I said, getting to my feet much quicker and easier than I would have thought possible a year ago. Royce looked me up and down. His shielded eyes glinted at me and I couldn’t tell whether the look in them was proud or predatory. “Interesting use of the word crumpet, though,” I said smiling.
“What can I say? I’m nothing if not interesting,” he muttered, pulling his stick from the ground and arming his self with it.
“Practically a movie of the week,” Casper agreed, brushing a fallen leaf out of his red hair.
“Shut up,” Royce chuckled. It struck me then, just how well he and Casper got along. And not just that; in the days and weeks that had passed with us trapped in this cabin; we had all grown close to each other. We were a family and, whether I wanted to admit it or not, that included Royce. “Come on, Sweetheart,” he said, motioning toward me. “We ain’t got much time.”
“Twenty-four hours from sundown,” I said, remembering what Echo had said. “You really want to spend the whole time playing with your stick?”
His eyes flickered. “Not at all, Sweetheart. I want to spend my entire time letting you play with my stick.” He swung at me. Anticipating it, I reared back, grabbing my spear as I spun around.
He advanced on me, swinging again. But I blocked him; wood on wood, and used the split second to kick him hard in the shin.
“No fair getting me all hot and bothered,” he hobbled backward.
“You’re the one who said controlling shade would only get me halfway. I figured I’d have to use all the tricks in my bag.” Feeling cocky, I swung my spear at him. He caught it barehanded, which was just about the sexiest thing I had ever seen in my life (not that I’d have ever told him that). He pulled it hard toward him, taking me with it. I slammed into his body and he held me up, cupping the small of my back with his hand.
The shade moved back and forth freely between us, the connection even stronger since we were physically touching. His heart beat fast against mine and his breath, hot and frantic, bathed my face and neck.
“Got any other moves?” He asked as a wide grin spread across his face.
“Just one,” I said, leaning in. His eyes widened as my lips neared his. His mouth puckered, ready to be met with mine. Before we touched, I pulled on my spear, jerking it from his grasp and belting him hard in the chest with it.
He went sprawling backward and landed hard on his backside.
“Oh. Oh my God,” Casper practically howled with laughter. “That was like- It was like, the greatest thing ever. I wanna write a sonnet about it. Seriously, I wanna marry it and-”
“Let it have your babies,” Royce sneered, staggering to his feet.
“Not cool bro,” Casper answered. “Way too close to home.”
“All the tricks in your bag?” Royce said, gauging me with his eyes.
“It worked, didn’t it?” I chuckled.
“This ain’t playtime, Sweetheart. I’m trying to save your life.” He turned back to Casper, who was still in stitches. “I guess you ain’t interested in that, though.” He looked back at me, and this time, there was no doubt in my mind about what emotion filled his eyes. “Keep making a joke out of everything, though. It’s what you do best.” He chucked his stick into the woods and turned away, stomping off into the trees.
“Seriously?” I muttered, watching him go.
“I guess he didn’t think it was funny,” Casper chimed in, chuckling and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
“Royce!” I yelled as he vanished into the brush. “Come on. It was just a joke. Royce!” But he didn’t turn around.
I plopped down beside Casper as he scooted around to make room on the stump.
“Some people are so touchy,” he said, giving me a supportive bump with his shoulder.
“I don’t know. Maybe he’s right. Maybe I’m not taking this seriously enough.”
“Cresta, we’re talking about the end of the world here. Taking it seriously enough might as well mean taking a header off a bridge. This is how you cope. It always has been. It’s the reason we like each other so much,” he said, resting his chin on my shoulder in a way that I realized he hadn’t in a very long time. “Besides, he’s not mad at you for knocking him on his ass, or even for making a joke about it.”
“He’s not?” I asked. “Then, pray tell, oh wise one, what is he mad about?”
“That’s easy,” Casper chirped. “He actually thought you were going to kiss him.”
“Shut up,” I said, shrugging him off of me. “That’s not what it’s about.”
“That is so what it’s about, and you know it. The cowboy’s got it bad for you. And you know what I think? I don’t think it’s completely one-sided. “
“What?!” I asked, giving him an ‘oh no you did not just go there’ glare.
“Oh come on Cress, if you’re going to lie to somebody, make sure that that person doesn’t know you well enough to be able to predict which pair of underwear you have on today.”
“You canno-”
“The pink ones with the yellow flowers.”
“I hate you,” I muttered, shuffling uncomfortably on the stump, and trying not to think about Casper thinking about my underwear. “It doesn’t matter. You’re wrong about this. I don’t like Royce.”
“Just like you didn’t like Owen after he moved to Crestview?” Casper asked, arching his red brows at me.
“That was different,” I answered, thinking about those perfect early days in Crestview; days when Owen and I would spend hours talking on the phone and cut marked glances whenever we saw each other in passing. “Even when I didn’t like Owen, I always liked him. We were friends, and it sort of grew from there. With Royce- I mean. I can’t stand the bastard.”
Okay, so that wasn’t exactly true; at least not in the way it used to be. To my dismay, Royce had grown on me to the point of where the idea of upsetting him actually upset me a touch. Still, there was no point in letting Casper know that.
“Of course, you can’t stand him, stupid. That’s how all the best ones start.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and smiling some far off smile. “I remember the first time I met Liv. She made some joke about my shoes in the cafeteria and everybody laughed at me.”
“She sounds like a bitch,” I said instinctively.
“She is,” he said, but the smile on his face said he was really into it. “And for a while, I did hate her. But I think part of that was because I was afraid to admit how I really felt about her. Being in love is scary, especially when deep down you know she doesn’t really feel the same way about you.”
“She’s a bitch with bad taste then,” I answered.
“Maybe,” he said. “But she sure as hell can fill out a pair of blue jeans.” He nudged me again. “All I’m saying is, there’s nothing wrong with being into him. Sure, he’s sort of a hick and a little less put together than the type of guy I imagined you’d end up with. But what do I know? If life has taught me anything, it’s that I’m an idiot.”
“You’re not an idiot,” I answered, taking his hand.
“Of course, you think so. You’re just as stupid as me,” he chuckled.
“We do make a hell of a pair,” I admitted. My eyes flickered to the ground. “He’s marrying her, Cass. He’s actually marrying her.”
“I know,” he said, and squeezed my palm.
“And he seemed happy. Well, not happy, but content. He wanted to move on. He wanted to marry her.” I felt tears well up and spill onto my cheeks. “What am I gonna do?”
“Given that the last time I got my heart broken, I ended up knocking up a college student, I don’t think I’m the right person to give you advice.” He sighed. “But if I was you, and I was this amazing person who had so much to offer; who also happened to be going through a bit of a hard time right now, I don’t think I’d sweat it. I know you love him, Cress. I know the idea of life without him is like the idea of life without cookies or music or air. Trust me, I know the feeling. And I know how it seems like that feeling might crush you. But it won’t. You’re strong. You’re awesome. And you’re way, way too good of a catch to bench yourself forever just because your high school crush was forced to go for some other girl.”
“I love you, Casper,” I said, brushing tears from my face.
“I love you, too. And it looks like I’m not the only one.” Casper pointed forward. Looking up, I saw Royce trudging toward us with a scowl on his face and a sliver of black cloth in his left hand.
I stood reflexively, watching the way his eyes latched onto mine, and readying the apology on my lips.
“You’re a bastard, do you know that?”
Okay, so maybe that wasn’t an apology on my lips after all.
“You knock me around all day trying to toughen me up for a fight we both know I’m probably not gonna win, and then you act like some spoiled kid because you wanted me to kiss you? Seriously?”
“You’re right, Sweetheart,” he said, settling in front of me. “I did act crazy, but it’s not what you think. I lost it because I didn’t want you to kiss me.”
“…oh,” I muttered, feeling all of three inches tall.
“Well that was unexpected,” Casper said from behind me.
“No, you don’t get it,” he said, reading my expression. “I do want you to kiss me. I want it like sizzling bacon. But you ain’t getting off that easy. You don’t get to pass it off as some joke or a tactical move. I told you after the first time we kissed that next time; you’d do it because you wanted to. I’m not your rebound. I’m not your mistake. And I’m not your past. Everybody else; that’s your past. I’m your future, and when that future becomes your present, I wanna make sure we do it right. We both deserve that. Don’t you think?”
“…yeah,” Casper muttered from behind me.
“Casper!” I said, looking back at him.
“What? The dude has a way with words.” He gave Royce a nod. “Congrats man. I think I’m officially Team Raven.”
A half smile etched across Royce’s face. “As happy as I am to hear that, it’s not the only reason I came back.” He handed me the crumpled black cloth in his hands. Unfolding it, I saw that it was the Blood Moon shirt, the one he gave me the day we met.
“You remember when I gave that to you?” He asked. “It was the day you broke Edgar.”
“You’re the one who wrapped it around a tree,” I answered.
“Edgar was not an ‘it’. He was a ‘him’ and he was very special to me, but that’s beside the point. I gave that shirt to you for a reason; the same reason I dug through your hamper just now to give it back to you.”
“You dug through my hamper?” I asked, trying, for the second time in a ten minute span, not to think about a boy contemplating my underwear.
“Do you know who you are, Cresta Karr?” He asked, folding his arms across his chest.
“The Blood Moon?” I asked, staring at the dimpled red circle in the middle of the shirt.
“You, fancy face, are their greatest nightmare. All these Breakers that you’re so afraid off, all these big bad Council members who have spent the last few months telling you how powerful they are; they’re scared to death of you. They’ve spent their entire lives praying to whatever God they believe in that you either don’t exist or that you’ll stay away long enough to make them think they’ve accomplished something.” He leaned into me, sending a shade flavored flurry through my chest. “You are everything they’ve ever feared. You’re the boogeyman they tell their children about in an attempt to get them to behave. You’re the curse word they use when they’re mad and the damnation they hope will never find them. For all the big talk they spout, they’d wet their pants if you looked at them funny. They can’t help it. They’re wired that way. And that’s your advantage. That’s why you’ll beat ‘em, Sweetheart; because they’re slaves to the future. And you already have.”
“Yep,” Casper chimed in again. “Definitely Team Raven.”