Duality: Vol 2, Euphoria (A New Adult Paranormal Romance) (11 page)

He looked down and gave me a half-smile that eased the pain in my chest almost all the way.

“You are important,” said Mr. Butts.  “And forgive the vernacular, but you’re a powerful asset.  I think someone’s already identified Rae as an asset, but the question is, why not you?”

“Tell us about Mr. Holder and Derek,” said Mrs. Butts, motioning to the corner of the room.  “But let’s sit at the little table over there so we can relax and no one will be able to see us while we’re figuring things out.”

I sat down next to Malcolm and waited for Kootch to bring in some extra chairs before continuing.  Once everyone was settled, Malcolm and I told them about our experience with the car accident and our subsequent run-in with Mr. Holder at the party house.  Malcolm also told us the details of what had happened in the bathroom, when Derek and Mr. Holder had talked with each other not knowing Malcolm was in the stall listening.

“So Mr. Holder, who you’d never met before, suddenly shows a huge interest in getting you alone?” asked Mrs. Butts.

“Yes.  That’s what it felt like.”

“I agree,” said Malcolm.  “And if you add in the conversation I heard in the bathroom earlier in the day, it makes sense that’s what he was trying to do.”

“And Derek was doing the same?” asked Mr. Butts.

“Well, it seemed like it.  But I never found out actually, since I was rescued.”  I grinned at my friends.  The memory of how afraid I’d been came rushing back during the telling of the story, and now I remembered also how grateful I had been to see them there at the gas station.  They didn’t have to do that.  They’d taken a risk for me, a girl they hardly knew, and none of them had been feeling the Rainbow vibe at the time either.  It made me feel special.

“The dick smashed my window in, he was so set on getting Rae out.  Freak owes me like three hundred bucks.”  Kootch scowled.

“Okay, so somehow, Rae, you moved from your last school and ended up at this school here where there were a teacher
and
a student interested in you, both of whom I assume have been there for a while …”  Mrs. Butts looked at the nodding heads of Jasmine, Kootch, and Malcolm.  “…And they had strong suspicions you were a certain person they were looking for.  Is that right?  Am I missing anything?”

We looked around the table at each other.  Everyone shook their heads no.  “I don’t think so,” I said.

“And they didn’t know about Malcolm,” said Mr. Butts.  “Interesting.”

“What happened at your last school, Rae?  Why did you leave?” asked Mrs. Butts.

I knew she was just trying to solve the puzzle, but my heart sank over the idea of telling them what had happened.  I was still ashamed over it, even though I knew it wasn’t really my fault.

“I … uh … well, I had to move.”

“Why?” asked Jasmine.  “What happened?  Something must have happened to upset your parents or whatever.”

I looked down at the table, using my fingertip to trace the lines in the woodgrain.  “Well, it was … messy.  Bad.  Scary.”

“If you can’t share, that’s okay,” said Mrs. Butts, leaning over the table, trying to catch my eye.  She was being so nice, and I wanted to help, but I didn’t look up.  I was too embarrassed.

“You should tell us, even though we can see it’s difficult,” said Mr. Butts.  “Every little story has a clue we can use to put this thing together.”

I sighed.  “Fine.  I’ll tell you.  It just brings up some memories I’d rather forget.”  I glanced at Malcolm, but his face was like a mask.  I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“I was living in South Carolina.  I’d been going to the school for about five months, which is really good for me.  There was this guy, Jerry, in a couple of my classes.  One of them was Drama.  I was forced into taking the class because I don’t play an instrument and at that school, you had to do music or drama.  We were required to do a play, which we practiced all semester.  I didn’t try out for any roles, but the teacher made me be an understudy for the lead.  It was a Rainbow thing, him making me.  I tried to avoid it, but eventually just gave up trying.  Otherwise, I painted backdrops.  I just wanted to stay out of the way and do whatever I could to not be on that stage and not be interacting with people.”  I took a breath, noticing that everyone was staring at me, completely dragged into the story.  I took another deep breath in and out and continued.  “The morning of the opening, something happened to the girl playing the lead.”

“Let me guess … she got mysteriously injured,” said Jasmine.

I nodded.  “She fell down some stairs and broke her ankle.  She said someone pushed her, but there were a lot of people there at the time, and no one saw anything except her going down.”

“So you had to play the lead,” said Kootch.

“Yes.  And Jerry was the lead male role.  He’s big.  On the basketball team.  At the end of the play we had to kiss.  I was able to avoid touching him for almost the entire play, but at the end, there was no way to avoid it.  I tried to tell the teacher and Jerry that I had a cold sore, but they didn’t believe me.  Or maybe they didn’t care, I don’t know.  I tried to turn my head, but Jerry kissed me, right on the mouth.  It was all over after that.  He became obsessed.”

“Yeah, that happens to me all the time,” joked Jasmine.  “I have to beat them off with a stick.”

I frowned at her.  It wasn’t funny at all, what had happened.  To me or Jason.

“Jasmine, try to be sensitive, would you please?”  Mrs. Butts was frowning at her daughter.

Jasmine looked down, her face turning pink.  “Shit.  Sorry.  Lost my mouth for a second there.”

“Oh, there’s something new,” said Kootch, and for once, Jasmine didn’t hit him.

“We had to do the play several times.  The school had sold out shows for four nights. By the last night, Jerry was convinced we were meant to be together.  He started stalking me, trying to catch me alone.  He even came to my house and tried to break in.  The last straw was when he grabbed me in a back hallway and forced me into a stairwell.”  My face burned bright red, the shame overtaking me.

“What happened?” asked Kootch, no longer joking or goofing around.

“We don’t need to know anymore,” said Mrs. Butts.  “You’ve told us enough.”

I breathed out a sigh of relief.  “Anyway, my parents packed us up and moved us away the next day, and now here I am.”  I shrugged, embarrassed about having all their eyes on me.

“What happened to Jerry?” asked Malcolm.

“We filed a restraining order against him.  I never saw him again, so I don’t know.”

“Wow.  That’s messed up,” said Jasmine.  “I’m sorry I joked around about it.  That was lame.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said.

I got it, where she was coming from.  My life is a mess.  Joking about it made sense for someone who lived like she did in this cocoon of love and security.  I couldn’t be mad at her for that.

“So what’s that got to do with anything?” asked Malcolm.  He sounded angry.  “Why did she need to pour her heart out like that?”

“Well, a couple things,” said Mr. Butts.  “First, if in fact her father is not her father, that means we have possibly two groups involved and not just one.”

“How so?” asked Kootch, hanging on his every word.

“Think about it … Holder and Derek were wondering if Rae was a certain person.  If they were in with another group who
did
know who she is, they wouldn’t need to try and figure that out.”

“So you’re saying there are two groups who may have competing interests.”  Mrs. Butts wasn’t asking; she was putting the pieces together and talking out loud.

I, personally, was lost.

“Yes.  So Rae gets moved to this area and there are at least two entrenched assets, Holder and Derek, waiting for her arrival.”

“How is that even possible?” asked Malcolm.  “There are thousands if not hundreds of thousands of schools around the country.  What are the chances they’d pick the one place where these two turds are and have been for years?  I’ve known about Derek for like four years at least.”

“Any number of ways,” said Mrs. Butts.  “Without even mentioning the power of other Influencers, I’d say that whoever is handling Rae could have a list of safe areas on his computer that got hacked.  Or someone from the other faction could have dropped the idea in her father’s head that this was a good place for her.  We don’t know what it is for certain, but it’s not impossible.  In fact, it’s very possible.”

“What do you mean, other Influencers?” I asked.

“Yeah, good question,” said Kootch, leaning in and looking at Mrs. Butts for an explanation.

“Like we mentioned before … you two are not the only ones of your kind.”  She looked right at me and then Malcolm.  Despite Malcolm holding my hand under the table, the panic crept back in.

Chapter Fourteen: Malcolm

ALL OF THESE CONSPIRACY THEORIES Jasmine’s parents were throwing out there were pretty unbelievable, but this last one, that there might be others out there like us, had me curious.  It’s something I’d always wondered about but never thought I’d get any answers to.

Mrs. Butts continued.  “What I mean is, you two are what we call Influencers.”

“We?  Who’s we?” asked Kootch.

“Our colleagues.  We’re involved in many covert operations, some of them involving reports of people with special … gifts.”

“Kootch, if you say another word, I’m going to give you a beanbag piercing while you sleep,” warned, Jasmine, not even looking at him.  Her attention was focused on Mrs. Butts.

Kootch glowered at her, but said nothing, his hands moving to his lap to protect his jewels.

Mr. Butts picked up the explanation.  “There are reports of Influencers both in our country and abroad.  The nearest we can make out, they have the ability to influence how people’s senses work.”

Mrs. Butts continued where he left off.  “…Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, all of that.  They can change how people sense things.  But you’re the first we know of who can affect emotions.”

“What do you mean, you have reports?” I asked, thinking that right now Kootch was probably wanting to yell about them being conspiracy nuts, but was too afraid of getting attacked by Jasmine.  I didn’t blame him for keeping quiet.  She looked like she meant it.

“We’ve intercepted communications about them from different sources, but we haven’t actually come into contact with any until we met you two,” said Mrs. Butts.  “The reports we have lead us to believe that there are people like you out there, being used or groomed to be used for different purposes.”

“And you think that’s what was happening to me?” asked Rae.  She didn’t sound as upset as I expected her to.  Just curious.

“Possibly.  Maybe even likely,” responded Mrs. Butts.  “But we won’t know until we do some digging.  And in the meantime, we need to keep you safe.”

“We’ve contacted a couple of friends who will be here soon,” said Mr. Butts.  “Malcolm and Rae, we need you to be ready to leave in the next thirty minutes.”

“Where are we going?” Rae asked.  Now she sounded really scared.

“To a safe place.  I’m not going to tell you the location.  I don’t want Jasmine or Kootch to know it.”

“Oh, man.  I can keep a secret.”  Kootch looked offended.

“No one can keep a secret.  No one.”  Mr. Butts had never looked so serious, not even when he was insisting I shoot him up with the darkness.  It made me wonder if he’d ever been tortured by enemy forces so he’d confess.

“Wow, geez, okay.”  Kootch stood.  “So what do you need me to do?  If you give me a gun I can watch the front door.”

“No guns,” said Mrs. Butts, a small smile on her lips.  “But thank you for your offer.  We just need you to keep as quiet as you can about what happened with Rae and Malcolm. But if someone puts you under pressure and you talk, it’s okay.  They’ll be safe as soon as they’re away from here.”

Kootch frowned.  “I don’t care what anybody says or does to me.  I’m not talking.  Your secrets are safe with me.”  He looked at me and Rae.  “I hope I see you soon.  Life hasn’t been this interesting since Jasmine pissed her pants in the fourth grade.”

Jasmine punched him hard in the arm.  “I didn’t pee!  That was spilled water, assmunch!  I’ve told you a thousand times, so get it through your thick skull.”

He winked at us and jabbed a thumb in her direction.  “I smelled it.  It was pee.”

“You’re sick.”  Jasmine stood up and left the kitchen eating area, storming out of the room.

Kootch stood there giggling silently and holding his stomach.  “Oh, man.  Gets her every time.”

Jasmine’s parents ignored him.

“Rae, if you want to leave a note for your parents, you can do that,” said Mrs. Butts. “I know you don’t want them to worry, so we’re happy to pass it on for you.”

She shook her head.  “You can just tell them if you want.  That I’m safe and happy and they should stop looking for me.”

“It would be better if it was written in your handwriting,” said Mr. Butts.  “If they are who we think they are, they’ll authenticate.  If nothing else, it will help your mom, maybe.”  He shrugged.  “Your call.”

“I’ll help you,” I said to Rae, wanting to ease the panic I saw on her face.

Mrs. Butts got up and came back with a pen and a piece of paper, passing Kootch as he left the room.  “No details, just assurances, okay?”  She smiled, stroking Rae’s head a couple times before leaving us alone at the table.

When Mr. Butts left, we were finally alone.

“Scared?” I asked, reaching up and moving a stray hair away from her face.

“Heck yes.  Aren’t you?”

“Of course.  I feel like Jasmine in the fourth grade.”  I grinned, trying to make Rae feel better.

“Ha, ha.”  She smiled for a second before frowning again.  “Do you believe all this?  Do you think it’s true?”

“I don’t know.  On one hand it sounds ridiculous.  Crazy and all that.  But then, on the other … not so much.  I mean, I could
see
it being true.  What’s hard for me to believe is that I’m involved in it, you know?”