Rogue Wave (The Water Keepers, Book 2) (2 page)

He stared at his mother’s glowing violet eyes through the window, her beauty marred by gagging and coughing. A pungent odor permeated the air and Ash recognized the smell right away…gasoline. His mother was swimming in it from all angles. She gasped and choked from the fumes.

He kicked the window with all his force, but the material was too strong. He scoured the room and found a brick and with everything he had, rammed it across the surface again and again. This was obviously no ordinary window. Ash raised the barrel of his gun and shot four rounds straight at the center. The bullets barely left a scratch.

His mother yelled at him, signaling through the window to leave her, to save himself before the building exploded. Ash couldn’t do it. He couldn’t just leave her there to die. He ran to the keypad which had gone dark and fumbled frantically with the wires. He had to save her. He wiped at his burning eyes, trying to see straight through the fumes and tears. But it was no use. The keypad was completely dead.

He looked back at the window. His mother’s face was somber, almost beaten. She shook her head in defeat. She coughed once and managed a small smile back at him, mouthing the words,
I love you
. Then her eyes rolled back and her body fell to the concrete.

“No!” Ash cried. There were no rational thoughts. His eyes burned red as he called out for his mom. He banged his fist against the window, ran his shoulder into the door. No, he couldn’t lose her. This couldn’t be the end.

Ash clenched his radio, calling for help, when the first boom shook the building. The whole place was going to blow. He had only one split-second choice left to make—live or die. He tore from the bunker in a blur, flames chasing his back. The force of the explosion threw him across the muddy field, knocking him out cold when he hit the ground.

Everyone said he was lucky to make it out alive.

But
was
he lucky to make it out?
Was
he? Ash sprang from the armchair beside his father’s bed. The rage from his memory pulsed through every limb in his body until it centered on the lamp next to him. At Ash’s command, the lamp flew across the bedroom and shattered down the wall. It should have been him who died that day, not her. It was his fault. If only he had been standing watch rather than arguing with his mother. He would have killed those guards before they could get a single shot off. Why did she have to be there that day?
Why
?

His father may as well have been dead now, too. He was basically just a living corpse. And Ash was the one who led Rayne to their house in the first place. He led Rayne right to them. He gave Rayne everything he needed to set the girl free. And how did Rayne repay him? By sending his father over a cliff and turning him into a sack of mush. He could never forgive Rayne for that. Never. And he could never forgive himself for it either.

Ash hovered over his father’s blank face, his lower jaw shaking. He reached down and placed his hands around the sides of Voss’s head. “Father,” he said through strained lips. “I don’t know if you can hear me, but I need you to listen. You can’t leave me here alone in my shame. You need to wake up. They ruined our lives, all of them…Rayne…Hamlin…the Council. Someone needs to make them pay for what they’ve done to us. Do you hear me? I need you to make them
pay.
” Ash grabbed his father’s collar and ripped open his shirt.

“I called in a few favors,” Ash said, reaching into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a silver flask, four times larger than the typical vial of Healing Water, and unscrewed the lid. “It wasn’t easy to get this, so you better not waste my effort. This is your last chance.”

Ash tipped the flask over Voss’s bare chest and let the iridescent liquid seep across the skin. It swirled slowly, almost like a cloud rather than fluid, until it melded with his father’s body and disappeared into the surface. Ash took a step back and held his breath, waiting.

Only seconds passed before a wretched grin emerged on Ash’s face. The wild glare in his eye was no longer alone. It was matched by a pair of devilish, veiny eyes staring wide open back at him from the bed. Voss was awake.

2. PHYSICS

(Five Months Later)

The familiar chair cushion gave lightly beneath my weight. I scooted the legs with my hands and pulled myself up to the same spot at Rayne’s dining room table where I’d sat almost every afternoon for the last several months.

Rayne smiled. “So, what should we work on first?”

I sighed and rummaged through my bag, pulling out the heavy textbook I’d grown to hate this semester. “Definitely physics,” I said.

The only reason I was taking the dumb class was to please both Heather and my mom. Heather was taking the class to keep her schedule heavy enough to appeal to UCLA’s admissions department, and, of course, was convinced that I needed to do the same. Somehow she had already decided for the both of us that we were going to go to college there together.  My mom tried to be more subtle about it, but she certainly wasn’t complaining about Heather’s plans. Especially since the school had an amazing nursing program she secretly was hoping I would apply to.

I let the book fall with a thump on the table. “Please tell me you’re an expert in kinetic energy. I’m completely lost.”

Rayne offered an apologetic grin. “Well...I’ve heard of it before.”

I groaned and let my forehead fall to the book on the table, mumbling as I spoke into the hard surface. “I’m seriously…going to
fail
this class.”

“You’re not going to fail,” he said, lightly placing his hand on my back. “Come on, we’ll figure it out together."

I had been worrying about this assignment ever since fourth period, when Mr. Reed decided to tie my head into crazy knots, but with Rayne, it actually seemed doable—or at least, less likely to send me to the loony bin.

My smile returned, and I lifted my head in his direction. “Well, I guess we should—” The words caught in my throat. I turned so quickly I didn’t realize how close he was. His face was only inches away. “We...uh,” I said, stumbling as his stare locked on mine.

I knew I should move, but I couldn’t look away. Heat spread through my body. This wasn’t the first time I’d caught myself staring into his amazing green eyes and wishing I could indulge myself with the touch of his lips. Even after five months of learning to suppress the bonding effect from the Healing Water, it still didn’t feel any easier.

It was hard to believe that after so many close calls, neither of us had given in to the desire. I saw it in his eyes. He wanted to kiss me. He was just as tempted to act on the urges as I was. But every time I caught myself staring into his eyes, longing for his touch, his lips…I just remembered one important thing—none of it was real.

I blinked and got a hold of myself, finally looking away and saying, “I guess we should get started, right?”

Rayne cleared his throat and straightened in his chair. “Yes. Right. Bring on the physics.”

Finally, after several hours of torture, I slammed the pages of my textbook shut and sighed with relief.

“I’m so glad that’s over,” I said.

He smirked. “I told you we’d figure it out.” He glanced at his watch which concealed the small green mark on his wrist, just as it did every day. “Hey, it’s already after six. You should get going if you’re going to make it to the hospital on time.”

I glanced at the grandfather clock in the corner of the room. “Oh yikes, I had no idea it was getting so late. I better go.”

I held up my palm in Rayne’s direction.  Without needing to ask, he took the tiny silver flask from his pocket and let a drop of Healing Water fall into my hand. It had become a daily ritual. I needed the Healing Water to stay alive, and Rayne was the person sent to make sure I got it.

Rayne watched as I gathered my things. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come?” he asked. “I could wait in the lobby while you and your mother eat.”

“No, don’t worry about it. I can make it a few miles down the road on my own, you know. You don’t need to babysit me every minute of the day.”

He looked down, a strange look on his face. “No, I know. I just thought…” His voice trailed away as he stared at the floor, off in his own little world. It seemed like he’d been doing that a lot lately.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

He looked up. “Oh…uh…no. It’s nothing. I’m fine.” He put on a wide smile.  “Just go have fun with your mom and I’ll talk to you later.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I pressed.

His laugh seemed almost nervous. “What? Yes, of course. You know me. I’m just overprotective. And I…get bored sometimes. That’s all I was thinking.” He shrugged and pulled on my shoulders, directing me towards the door. “Really. It’s not a big deal.”

“Oh my gosh, I didn’t even think of that,” I said. “Totally…you should come.”

“Seriously. It’s not a big deal,” he repeated. “Go and have a nice dinner with your mom. You don’t need me hanging over your shoulder all night.”

He opened the door and nudged me through the opening.

“Okay,” I said, hesitating. “I guess I’ll talk to you later then.”

I walked a few steps down the sidewalk and glanced back for Rayne’s usual wave goodbye, but the door was already shut.

What was with him lately?

I stopped at the mailbox in front of my house and pulled out a pile of envelopes and junk mail before getting in the Honda.

Just as I tossed the pile on the passenger seat, I noticed the slight, icy blue glow from my eyes in the rearview mirror.  Usually that was a good sign. Even though Rayne gave me Healing Water every single day, my body’s reaction to it was never consistent. Some days, like today, it would take effect immediately. Other days it would barely change the color of the Watermark on my wrist. But it didn’t seem to matter either way. I hadn’t experienced a single emotional outburst or fainting episode since the day of the Sadie Hawkins dance several months ago.

As much as I hated being dependent on the Healing Water to survive, it was nice to know that all the crazy spells and depression I had suffered at the beginning of the year, were nothing more than my body’s physical reaction to my malfunctioning Watermark, and was in no way an indication that I was, in fact, crazy or mentally disturbed in any way.

Without a second thought, I turned on my car radio, which Rayne had recently fixed for me, and headed across town to Big Belly Deli. Normally, we’d do something a little more exciting than sandwiches for dinner, but my mom had been talking about a craving for their pastrami reuben for weeks now.

When I placed the sandwich down on the small table in the break room at the hospital, my mom’s face lit up. “Honey, you remembered,” she said.

I laughed. “You’ve only mentioned it, like, fifty times in the last week. How could I forget?”

She shrugged happily and took a bite, then added, “Sorry I cancelled our regular girls’ night to plan dinner with Mark.”

“No problem,” I said. “I’m just as happy to spend our alone time here as I would be anywhere else. And it was about time that you guys finally invited me to come with you for once.” My mom and Dr. Jensen had been dating for months now, and they were pretty much inseparable these days.

“Oh that reminds me,” Mom said. “Mark arranged to take the entire day off, so we were thinking about moving the time a little earlier on Wednesday. Would six thirty still work okay?”

“Sure. That should be fine.” A grin grew on my face. “So, are we all going in Dr. J’s Jaguar?”

She rolled her eyes and laughed at my enthusiasm. “Yes, honey. Mark is going to drive.” Only people who have driven a car as old as mine would understand why this was so exciting to me.

After Mom went back to work, I walked over to the door which led to the stairwell. I took the stairs every time I came to the hospital now, pretty much ever since the night Rayne brought me up to the hospital roof after my car accident. It felt like such a long time ago, but the stairs still sort of felt like part of our secret little place. Even though Rayne was only pretending to be my boyfriend and our relationship was basically just a front, I liked remembering the mysterious, giddy feeling I had the night he took me alone with him to the roof.

With romanticized memories still floating through my head, my sandals pattered lightly down a flight of concrete stairs until just before I reached the landing between floors. I held onto the railing, ready to swing myself cheerfully around the corner, when I heard male voices coming from below. That seemed odd. I’d never come across a single person in the stairwell before.

I stopped with curiosity. I couldn’t make out what they were saying. The voices sounded like hushed echoes. Moving forward slowly, I placed my feet down a few steps and lowered my body onto one of the stairs to see if I could get a better look. I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to spy, but something about the situation seemed out of place.

When I poked my head down by the railing, I could see the back of a man’s head on the platform one floor below me.

One of the men spoke again. It was still a little muffled, but this time I could understand his words. “What did you think of the results from your free trial?” he asked.

The other man shifted, swaying into view for a brief moment. I squinted and repositioned myself. It almost looked like Dr. Jensen. Why would he be having a meeting in the stairwell? He had an office with a window and a great view. Maybe it wasn’t him. He moved too quickly for me to be sure.

“The results were exceptional,” the man answered. “I’ve never worked with anything like it.” He placed his hand on the railing, moving back into sight. Yes. It was Dr. Jensen. I was sure of it. It sounded like he was sampling some kind of medication. But, a meeting in the stairwell? That didn’t make sense.

“So, are you ready to work with us?” the man with his back to me asked. “Or do you need a little more convincing?”  There was something about his voice that sent an eerie chill up my back. The whole thing didn’t feel right, like an illegal drug deal or something.