Sapphire: A Paranormal Romance (26 page)

After what seemed
like forever, they finally parted and headed back to their table.  Their
friends applauded when they approached and Sapphire laughed.  Sapphire sat
down, and Jesse headed across the gym to get something for them to drink.

That was when
Devlin moved in.

Watching the young
man, with his dark eyes and nearly smooth head, was like watching a shark with
legs.  He cruised between the dancers and revelers and headed directly for
Sapphire.  Jesse headed back toward the table as Devlin reached the halfway
point.  He saw Devlin and his eyes went wide.  Jimmy knew the fear.  He had
felt it and had worn a similar expression on his face many times in the
presence of the football players.  Flanking Devlin on both sides were more
football players.

Devlin reached the
table before Jesse.  All of the students surrounding Sapphire gasped and their
eyes opened wide in fear.  Most of them suddenly found a reason to head
elsewhere.  Any of the other boys at the table who made attempts to stand up
and say something were immediately intimidated by the football posse that
surrounded Devlin.

Jimmy could not
hear what Devlin was saying, but the constant sneer on his face was enough to
tell him all he needed to know.  Stan had said similar words to Jimmy just a
couple nights ago.  Devlin grabbed Sapphire's arm and tried hauling her to her
feet.

Jimmy almost
started forward himself, but he was so busy concentrating on Sapphire, he
missed what Jesse was doing.  Suddenly a rain of punch splashed into Devlin's
face.  He was positively dripping with it.  Sapphire broke out into hysterical
laughter.  Devlin whirled on whoever had dared and found himself looking down
into the frightened, but determined, face of Jesse.

Devlin's entire
body seemed to quiver with rage, but Jesse did not back down.  Words were
exchanged.  Sapphire was still laughing.  However, she had now gotten up out of
her chair and was moving toward Devlin and Jesse.  Devlin had balled both of
his hands into fists.   Jesse, instead of backing away, moved forward until his
face was directly in Devlin's.  The two of them were exchanging words at the
same time, talking over each other, spittle flying from both of their lips. 
Sapphire moved forward, reaching out to grab Devlin's shoulder, and, at that
moment, Devlin put both hands on Jesse's shoulders and shoved.

Jesse went flying
backwards as if he were made of straw.  He landed on a boy sitting behind him,
then stumbled backwards over a chair and landed on a table.  The table flew up
and Jesse fell to the floor, food and other materials falling on top of him. 

Sapphire screamed.

Devlin turned to
face Sapphire, his face filled with rage.

Sapphire reared
back with her hands and raked her nails across Devlin's face.  Devlin opened
his mouth and screamed, clutching his face.  Blood flowed from between his
fingers.  Sapphire reached back with her other hand and lashed out, slashing
Devlin's hand.  Just then Devlin's entourage moved to grab Sapphire.  That was
when three of the teachers showed up.

A female teacher
grabbed Sapphire by her arms.  Sapphire's teeth were bared and she looked like
a being of pure fury, wanting to tear Devlin apart.  Another teacher reached
down and helped Jesse get back to his feet.  Another teacher was tending to
Devlin.  From out of nowhere a fourth teacher, or perhaps the principal, showed
up and fended off Devlin's posse.

Angry words were
exchanged.  The most passionate was Sapphire.  She was arguing desperately
against the principal, begging for her and Jesse to stay at the dance.  The guy
was having none of it.  He crossed his arms and then pointed to the door. 
Cheers went up from some of the other dancers.  Up on the stage, the band just
kept playing.

Sapphire spat more
words out, her mouth still twisted into an angry sneer, but she grabbed her
purse and sweater, then took Jesse's arm.  Jesse looked embarrassed and more
than a little scared.

Devlin, meanwhile,
stood off to one side, still clutching his face.  Blood was all over the front
of his suit and his hands were stained with it, but no fresh blood was pouring
out from between his fingers.  He was shaking his head, trying his best to look
like the wounded victim whenever the teacher was facing him, but glaring with
unadulterated hatred at Sapphire and Jesse whenever the teacher was distracted.

Eventually, all
parties were escorted from the area.  Devlin was led out of the gym, and, Jimmy
guessed, to the nurse's station for bandaging.  Jesse and Sapphire were guided
to the door. Sapphire did not stop her diatribe against the injustice she felt
she was being forced to endure, but then they reached the door, and her voice
faded as it closed behind them.

Just then, the
world warped and turned black.

Jimmy
sat up in his bed.  His heart was pounding.  He was breathing hard.  The static
in his head was still there, buzzing away at the back of his thoughts.  He did
not say or think anything, but he knew that Sapphire was there and that the
memory of that night had come flooding back to her, and now it had been shared
with him. 

Devlin.

Jesse.

An obvious
confrontation that had very closely matched the one Sapphire and Jimmy had had
with Stan at the dance.  Perhaps the fact that Stan was the age he was and at
the dance had contributed to Sapphire's ability to appear that night.  Exactly
what the connection was between Jesse and Jimmy, he had no idea.  Other than
the fact that both Jimmy and Jesse were social outcasts who, apparently, the
football players felt were unworthy of Sapphire, there was nothing else to
connect them.

Jimmy could
imagine what had happened later.  Devlin would not have been able to stand
Jesse getting the upper hand over him.  As soon as he was bandaged, he would
have met up with his posse and gone after Jesse and Sapphire.

What did not make
sense, however, was the timing.  Surely it would take time for Devlin's wounds
to be cleaned.  He would have had to convince the nurse or teacher that he did
not need stitches and that he could be let go on his own.  Why had Sapphire and
Jesse not made it home by then?  Why had they ended up at that bridge?

Whatever the
reason, Jimmy guessed that they had only made it that far.  Perhaps Jesse's car
had broken down or gotten a flat.  They must have been terrified when Devlin's
car rounded the corner.  What had happened then?

Another
confrontation, of course.  With Devlin trying to finish what he had started at
the dance.  Had Sapphire resisted?  Probably.  Given her fiery temper against
the teachers, she had probably fought whatever advances he had made.  Jesse
would have been immobilized by the other football players, and probably watched
in horror as Devlin struck out against Sapphire, perhaps sending her over the
bridge.

What had happened
to her body?  Jimmy wondered that for the first time.  Were her bones still
beneath that bridge?  She seemed trapped there.

And had Devlin
held Jesse hostage all of these years?  Always threatening him with harm if he
told anyone?  Over time, that fear would have changed from fear of harm to fear
of being prosecuted for not reporting the crime all of those years ago.  All of
those years living with that fear—it must have been like a stone in Jesse's
gut.

Jimmy felt sorry
for Sapphire and Jesse.  He knew exactly what it was like to be an outcast.  To
just want to have one night where everything went right and to have that one
moment of magic to carry with you on the other nights when the world seemed
dead set against you.

Jimmy sat up in
bed and looked around the room.  Already the soft light of dawn was filtering
through the windows.  It was morning, but early.  Jimmy thought about putting
his head back down and going back to sleep, but he felt that he had dreamed
just about enough for the night.  He decided it was time to head downstairs and
see what he could scrounge up for breakfast.

The buzzing in his
head had now faded to the point that he could not hear it any longer.  Did
ghosts sleep?  Did they just kind of go into a stasis?  Jimmy had no idea, but
he wasn't about to ask Sapphire.  She had had enough questions thrown at her at
once.

Jimmy swung his
legs over the side of the bed and stood up. His legs popped, and then his
back.  He realized just how sore he was.  The frantic bicycle riding, the
fights, and everything he had been through over the last several days were
taking a toll on him.  He was not in particularly bad shape, but he also didn’t
really spend a lot of time working out.  His muscles were protesting.

He moved slowly
around the foot of the bed and padded barefoot down the stairs and into the
living room.  The house was dark and silent.  Tabitha's laptop had been placed
haphazardly on the coffee table, and various papers and research were scattered
around it.  She had obviously been up late into the night.  A cup with a
withered tea bag sat near the laptop.  Jimmy grabbed that and headed into the
kitchen.

Jimmy rinsed out
the mug and then began searching the cupboards.  He finally came across a box
of cereal that he felt he could eat, and went to the fridge to get the milk. 
After another few moments of searching, he also found the bowl and the spoon. 
He had just poured the cereal and the milk and was sitting down at the kitchen
table to eat when Warren appeared and just about scared him to death.

"Sorry,"
Warren said, and smiled when he saw how Jimmy had jumped.  "I get up
pretty early these days.  It usually happens when I'm working on a book."

Jimmy caught his
breath and ate a big mouthful of cereal. "What are you working on?"

Warren grabbed a
mug and made himself some tea and sat down across from Jimmy.  "Well, it's
about a plane crash in Indiana.  It was blown up back in the thirties, the
first attack of its kind against a commercial airliner. It's the first time
I've written one of these books without living in and around the place where it
happened.  I'm working through research and FBI files I got about the thing. 
It's fascinating."

"You like
this stuff, huh?"

Warren shrugged.
"I like telling stories, and the stories I’m drawn to tend to have very
dark aspects."

Jimmy nodded and
ate.  Warren sat there and sipped quietly.  Jimmy respected a guy who could
appreciate silence.  Warren didn’t feel the need to fill the space with idle
chatter.

"So what do
you think about this whole thing?"

Warren took
another sip. "I think you guys are just scratching the surface.  I think
that this entire area has some very dark secrets, and you guys have stumbled
across one of those."

"Are we in
trouble?"

"There's
always a risk when you start digging around,” Warren warned.  “When I started
looking for another thing to write about, I looked around here and found a few
tantalizing leads.  Then I came across the crash in Indiana, and decided that
was the better story for my own mental health.  The last time I ventured into a
story around here, I nearly ended up dead."

Jimmy nearly
choked on his cereal.  "The Boogeyman story?"

Warren nodded. 
"Yes.  That's when I found out that ghosts and demons and evil are all
very, very real.  And that in some places, like here in Knorr, they can punch
right on through from the other side and into our world.  And how there are
things on the other side that are far more dangerous than anything we have
here.  And now, thanks to you and Sapphire, I know that the road works both
ways.  You can punch back through into the other dimension."

"I've found
that things right here in this dimension can be plenty dangerous," Jimmy
said, finishing off his bowl of cereal.

Warren agreed. 
"That's very true.  I’ve written enough books about how dangerous we can
be to each other.  So do you think she was murdered?"

"Yes,” Jimmy
said. “I had a very vivid dream last night about Sapphire and the night of that
dance.  It was eerily like what happened with her and me at the dance just this
past Friday.  Devlin Little wanted her and he didn't like her being with Jesse,
and there was a confrontation.  They left the dance and Devlin was hurt, and
something happened after that.  I think Devlin Little and his friends found
them, maybe broken down beside the road, and they killed her."

Warren thought
about that and then nodded.  "Could be, Jimmy.  But there are still a lot
of holes to fill."

"I know, but
I just can't help but wonder if Devlin has been holding Jesse in fear all of
these years.  I worry about just how much power he has."

"You have
every right to worry," Warren said. "However, Tabitha and I don't
think that anyone is untouchable.  If he did it, then we'll help you get him. 
We'll find justice for Sapphire."

"I
know," Jimmy said.  "I just worry what happens then.  If Sapphire
gets justice, does she cross over forever?  Do I help her and, in doing so,
lose her?"

"It's
possible, but I think once someone touches your heart, you never really lose
them.  There's a connection between you two that's so strong it crosses decades
of time and the infinity of death itself.  So I think that even heaven couldn't
keep you two apart."