Torn (14 page)

I slept fitfully as my mind hazed between scenes of Lucas and Ethan and scenes of darkness and light. In my dreams, I saw Lucas surrounded by light, crying out to me, trying to get to me but he couldn’t. I was laughing at him. I was the one pushing him away. With my palms outstretched, I tossed him around like a rag doll. He was fighting to get to me with all he had, and I lazily drove him back with every advance. I was cloaked in swirling shadows. No, it wasn’t shadows that concealed me. I had wings.

Suddenly, my mind flashed to a foggy vision of Ethan. His eyes were no longer blue. They’d taken on some dark, misty color. We were intertwined in some sort of passionate embrace, though I was trying with all my might to break free. He was laughing and wouldn’t let go. With my every move to escape his grasp, he pulled me in tighter. The darkness grew around us. I screamed, fighting to no avail.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Lucas on his knees before some black swirling shadow. I saw the glint of a black sword raised in fury. As it fell, I cried out, watching helplessly as Lucas crumpled to the floor, bloody wings beside him. The sword rose again and, with one swift movement, it pierced Lucas’s chest. The light that once surrounded him immediately faded to nothing.

I awoke in a sweat and looked around. Lucas was driving now, and Ethan was asleep in the passenger seat. I shakily sat up, wiped the sweat from my forehead, and tried to even my breathing before I dared to speak. “Lucas?”

“Hey. You’ve been sleeping forever.”

“Yeah.
What time is it?”

“Midnight.”

“Midnight?”
Where are we going again
?

“Yeah.
We’re almost there. We took the long way in case some of the Exiled realized we were leaving.”

“That’s a good idea,” I said.

My stomach growled.
Loudly.

“We picked up a sandwich for you when we stopped. It’s in the cooler by your feet.”

“Thanks,” I muttered as I reached down and searched for it. I
unwrapped
it and took a bite.
Ham and Swiss.
The familiar combination was strangely comforting.

Lucas turned to look over his shoulder and winked. “So, how’ve you been over the past few days? It’s been pretty hectic, and we haven’t had time to really hang and talk like we usually do. I’ve kinda missed it.”

Normal Lucas—normal, happy, sensitive, fun Lucas.
No sign of the moody, brooding guy that crashed the party so often lately.
God.
I felt like an ass. Regardless of what his feelings were or weren’t, he’d been my best friend since, like, diapers, and I’d been an ass. But he didn’t know I’d been an ass and that made me feel much, much worse. I scrunched down in my seat trying, unsuccessfully, to make myself invisible. Lucas kept peering at me in the mirror and smiling. My heart pounded in shame.

“Hey. I have an idea. We have a few hours before we get there.
Why don’t we do the lyrics game?”

The lyrics game.
I felt nauseous. Lucas and I loved music so much and had been to so many concerts together that we made up a game, which we’d dubbed the lyrics game. One of us would sing a few lines from a song and the other one had to name the song title. Ethan had played a few times but I’d lost count of how many times Lucas and I had stayed up till dawn trying to stump each other. The thought made me smile through tiny tears that welled up.

“Sure, Lucas.
The lyrics game.
You go first.”

“Wanna pick the genre?”

“No. You go ahead.”

“Ok. Here goes...
And once outside the undertow, just you and me and nothing more, if not for love I would be drowning
...”

For a split second, my mind raced to the cliffs and ocean water that had plagued my dreams lately. Nausea threatened to overwhelm me. My vision blurred, and my ears filled with a distant buzz. Thoughts of my father swam in my brain. I pulled myself out of the thoughts just as quickly as they flashed into my head. My sweat dried as my skin flushed.

I half smiled. “Going recent this time, huh? I thought you didn’t listen to anything that wasn’t at least 10 years old.”

“You know it? Man, I thought I’d have you with that one.”

“Of course, I know it. Only one of the best bands of all time!
Pearl Jam, ‘Amongst the Waves.’”

“Ha-ha. Shoulda known you’d get it.
Your turn.”

He looked so happy. It was like we were the old Sam and Lucas again. Funny, it felt like we’d been separated a lifetime. But it’d only been a few months.

I thought for a minute, I wanted to pick a good song.
One that meant something.

“Ok, slugger...
In times of trouble, in times of pain, you and I will always remain
...”

His head whipped back but I didn’t meet his eyes.

“Sam. What made you think of
that
song? You wrote out the lyrics to this song when my dad died. Remember? You ripped a page out of your notebook at school and taped it inside my locker. Remember?”

“I remember.”

In that moment, I was grateful for the night camouflaging the silent tears that streamed down my face.

“Aw, Sam.
It’s so weird, but over the past few days, I feel like I’ve lost you or something. Stupid, I know. With all the training and all the stuff we’ve told you about your dad and family, you’ve probably just avoided me on purpose. And you’ve been hanging out with Ethan. I don’t know. It just feels like it’s been weird.”

“I know what you mean. I thought you were avoiding me.”

He gave me a look that melted my heart. “I wouldn’t do that. I could never do that. I was just a bit freaked out. I’m scared for you.”

“Love ya, Lucas.”

“Love ya, too, Sam.”

It was always the way we said it.
Love, ya.
Sighing, I looked out the window and noticed we were, once again, in the woods.
Can’t somebody set me down next to a freaking pizza place
?
A mall
?
Civilization
?
Is it really too much to ask
?

“Lucas, where are we?”

“Massachusetts.”

“I’m sorry? Why?”

“Well, we had to move you from Florida to the last place and now we needed to come here. There’re people here that can help us train you. Together we can help you gain a bit more control over your gifts so the next time you shatter a window, it’ll be on purpose.”

“Ha-ha. I thought I’d hurt you, and you’re making jokes.”

Laughing, he said, “Sorry. I couldn’t help it.”

“So, who are we meeting? Are we staying with them?”

“Well, see for yourself.”

We turned down a wooded drive. I couldn’t see what he was talking about for a minute. Then, suddenly, the woods ended and there, on top of a hill, loomed an old two-story farmhouse. The front porch was expansive and inviting, the shutters were quaint and the front door, much like the rest of the house, seemed strong and secure.

The windows were lit up in preparation for our arrival. Regardless of the inviting welcome laid out before me, I’d never been more uncomfortable. My skin started to itch and a headache began to brew. I could barely think of anything other than the fact I had to get the hell out of there, but I knew it might be too late for that. And besides, what would I have told everyone?
Sorry, can’t stay. This house, though very beautiful, gives me a heavy dose of the heebies.
I didn’t think that would fly.

The front door opened and two men stepped out onto the wrap-around porch. They fixed their stares on the Jeep as we pulled up to the house. Lucas reached over and lightly shook Ethan out of his hibernation.

“Ethan. Wake up. We’re here. Sam, we’ll get everything from the car in a bit. Let’s go up and make our introductions first.”

Rubbing sleep from his eyes, Ethan didn’t even look at me before we got out of the car.

The three of us made our way up the walkway to the foot of the stairs. One of the men came down the steps to greet us. In the porch light he looked tall and broad. With his dirty blonde hair, sprinkled with signs of age, and crow-footed blue-green eyes, he gave us the once over before focusing on me. I felt like he was looking through me rather than at me, and the feeling of creepiness intensified. I was the first to look away before he spoke. “Ethan, Lucas, Samantha. Welcome. We’ve been expecting you.”

Ethan smiled uncomfortably and reached out stiffly to shake his hand. “Jesse. Thanks for letting us come on such short notice. This is Samantha. The one we’ve been watching over.”

Jesse turned back to me and extended a hand. I gingerly took it, expecting my hand to wither and fall off. When I met his eyes, all traces of that searching gaze were gone. “Samantha. We’ve been looking forward to meeting you. We’ve heard you’ve had a time of it the past few months. No matter. We’ll have you up and ready before the protection wears off. Tomorrow is your eighteenth birthday, right?”

Tomorrow?
In all this mess I’d forgotten that my birthday was the following day. Whatever shelter my dad provided me would disappear the moment I turned eighteen. The shock must’ve been visible on my face, and I was sure whatever tomorrow brought hadn’t been lost on anyone but me. Ethan’s stare bore through the back of my head and I could tell he sensed my surprise.

Ethan’s face was cast in shadow as Jesse turned to Lucas and hugged him. “Lucas! Lucas! Welcome back, son.” All formality had vanished. “It’s been too long. Let me look at you. You look more and more like your mother everyday, God rest her.”

“Thanks, Jesse. I’ve missed you, too.”

Jesse looked to us, then to the man still standing on the porch. “You two remember my son? Samantha, this is my son Scott. Scott, come down here and greet our guests properly.”

Scott was the spitting image of his dad, minus the graying temples. Still boyishly cute while Jesse had that George Clooney distinguished thing going on. He smiled a bit when he shook my hand and then hugged Lucas.

He only nodded at Ethan, all trace of his smile gone. I noticed that Ethan, too, wasn’t smiling. Instead, both boys’ eyes grew dark as they looked at each other with thinly veiled disgust. I could actually feel the tension rise around me.
Huh. Wonder what that’s all about
.
Jesse seemed to sense it, too, as he quickly corralled us into the house.

We walked into the foyer and I noticed, off to the left, what looked to be an office. A desk strewn with papers and holding a computer faced the door and twin chairs, while a table, chair, and ottoman were haphazardly placed in the corner. To the right was the living area with comfortable looking sofa and two massive leather chairs that made up the bulk of the furniture. My stomach sank a bit when I noticed they had no TV.
Seriously
?
I suddenly needed to sit down as I unexpectedly felt spent.

As if reading my thoughts, Jesse asked us to have a seat. Then the three of us waited in stiff silence while Lucas and Scott went to the back of the house and reappeared after a few minutes with some drinks.

“So, Samantha,” Jesse began. “Ethan tells me you’ve finally discovered your gifts.”

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. This wasn’t a conversation I was prepared for. I wasn’t prepared for any conversation at all, when I thought about it. I’d just figured we’d come in, meet, and go on with whatever was next. Seized with the terrible feeling I’d been thrust onto a stage and blinded by the spotlights, I concentrated on my shoes and mumbled a “yes”.

“I’ve been told they’re surprisingly strong considering they’ve only just begun to surface. Please, in your own words, tell me what it is you can do.”

My eyes lifted to meet Jesse’s level gaze. I didn’t know what to say. I’d been sheltered for the past few months. The only people I’d come in contact with were Ethan and Lucas, and now I was expected to spill my life story to a complete stranger? I didn’t want to be on display. When I glanced at Lucas, he nodded his head and smiled reassuringly.

“Well, I guess I can fix things. I’ve been practicing breaking twigs and branches and putting them back together. I can also recall objects. I would sit by the water and toss rocks into it. I’ve been able to sorta pull them back to my hands when I focus.”

“Tell him about the kitchen incident,” Ethan interrupted with an authoritative tone that I didn’t appreciate.

My eyes darted to him with, what I felt sure was, thinly veiled irritation. “I got angry one day a few months ago and the kitchen window shattered all over the floor and all over Lucas.” At Jesse’s look of surprise, I continued quickly. “But I fixed it. I concentrated and was able to restore the window and remove the glass from Lucas. He was bleeding where the glass hit him, but when I fixed it, the cuts were gone, like they never happened.”

“A healer.”
It was Scott’s turn to speak. “You’ve had no training, yet you were able to fix the window and heal Lucas? You were able to collect yourself enough to do that without hurting anyone? That’s interesting.”

Now totally uncomfortable, I shifted in my seat as my ass tried to doze off. I knew about the whole healer thing, but I was a bit wary discussing it with strangers. I was suddenly acutely aware that all eyes in the room were on me. I never meant to break the glass, and I couldn’t quite remove the guilt from my conscious.

Jesse looked at me like my dad used to when he was concerned. “Samantha, what did you mean when you said you were angry? Was it simply a matter of happenstance or did you mean to break the window?”

My voice had a bit of force when I replied. “I would never purposefully hurt either Lucas or Ethan. I would never purposefully hurt anyone, and I resent the implication.”