Cursed Hearts (A Crossroads Novel)

C U
R S E D

H E
A R T S

A
Crossroads Novel

LIGHT
& LOWELL

Cover
art by: Steve De La Mare

For
everyone who said that we could,

and all
those who thought we couldn’t.

This
book is for you.

CURSED
HEARTS

Text
Copyright © 2013 by Light & Lowell

Cover
Art Copyright © 2013 by Steve De La Mare

Brushes
by midnightstouch/brusheezy.com

Brushes
by hypnotiza/brusheezy.com

All
Rights Reserved.

ISBN-13: 978-1494386108

ISBN-10: 1494386100

No
part of this publication may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the
copyright owners.

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This
is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places, and events portrayed in
this book are either products of the authors’ imagination or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business
establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

C U
R S E D

H E
A R T S

A
Crossroads Novel

For additional content such as

character art, music, fun facts and more, visit:

www.lightandlowell.com

Chapter 1

Vardel
Academy was teeming with life. Two days ago, it had been as empty as a promise.
The air was crisp, rustling leaves as students littered the grounds and filled
the halls with vibrant chatter.  It was early September, and the start of
another year. This year, however, was different. This year they would meet.
They would set in motion the events that would change everything. This was the
beginning.

It
was the first day of school, and Rome had absolutely no idea what he was doing
here. He stared at the large building as it came into view, admiring the red
brick and white stone structure. Circular balconies jutted out from every
level, and elegant, arched windows lined the exterior, making it look more like
a palace than an educational institute. His hands gripped
anxiously at the steering wheel, feeling the worn
leather beneath his fingers as
he turned into the parking lot.

“What
is this, a school or a car dealership?” he mumbled. The loud rumble of the
engine rattled the frame of his car, drawing in several unfriendly glares. He
and his beaten old Pontiac were probably the biggest eyesores Vardel had ever
seen.

He
found a space and killed the engine, cranking up the window in quick, jerky
movements. The door groaned unappreciatively on its hinges as he swung it wide
and stepped out. Rome’s eyes darted around, hoping that no one was watching as
he gripped the edge of the window and tugged it up those extra few inches that
it never did quite want to go. That only made him want to key the Porsche
beside him even more. He turned and kicked the door closed with the heel of his
boot, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. The tail end of his car dipped
abruptly, and he frowned at the tall, athletic stranger leaning against his
back bumper.

“Can
I help you?” Rome asked gruffly.

“I
was just about to ask you the same question,” Dallas replied, offering him a
charming, albeit fake, smile. “The public school’s on the other side of town.
Or maybe you were looking for the junk yard, so you can scrap this piece of
shit pretending to be a car,” he laughed.

“Is
that your Porsche?”

“No,
but I know who it belongs to, and I’d be happy to inform them you were
inquiring about it.”

“So
which one of these shiny new imports is yours, then?”

“If
you can guess, I’ll give you a dollar. Maybe you can buy yourself some new
clothes,” Dallas said, “or a better personality.”

“You
should watch what you say to people you don’t know.”

“Oh,
I know who you are.”

Rome
slipped his keys into his pocket, holding back the urge to throttle him. He’d
known this guy was full of himself before he’d even
opened his mouth. He’d seen him around town before. His pretty-boy hair
had
more product in it than a drugstore, and his looks probably got him
everywhere his money couldn’t.

“Just
stay away from me.”

“As
far as possible,” he promised. He let Rome get a few steps away before calling
after him. “Hey, what color do you call this tin can?”

Rome kept walking as though he hadn’t heard him. At the
last second,
he
yelled sarcastically over his shoulder, “Primer gray.”

As far as Rome was concerned, Vardel was just as over the
top as the entitled, stuck-up rich kids that walked its halls. Yet here he was,
walking through the glass doors into what felt like a completely different
world. Rome slipped the folded pamphlet that had come with his acceptance
letter out of his pocket, glaring at the gold embossed words on the cover. He
was pretty sure this was a joke.
There was no way his grades were good enough to have
earned him a scholarship, let alone a day pass to the best school within a hundred
miles. That didn’t mean he was going to
miss
out on the possibility of free room and board, not to mention a hot meal.

Ever
since his mother’s death, a safe place to lie his head at night and a steady
source of food had been difficult to come by. His father almost always had a
bottle of Jack Daniels pressed to his lips nowadays. It might as well have been
a loaded gun in Henry’s hands. To say the man was a volatile waste of space
would be too kind.

If
you asked Rome, he’d say he loved him.

“Hey
Christian, get a load of this,” he heard a boy whisper from
across the room. Rome glanced up from the small
map he’d been squinting
at, following the boy’s line of sight. He was
pointing at a girl leaning over to take a drink from the water fountain – a
girl whose skirt seemed to be trying to defy the laws of gravity. His eyes
wandered up the expanse of her long legs for a second before he caught himself
staring.

The
dirt on the floor had never seemed so interesting.

“I
can do you one better,” Christian said.

Rome
watched him flick his fingers out abruptly as if he were splashing someone with
water. The fountain drenched her white blouse in response, leaving it
completely see-through and clinging to her skin.

The
girl looked outraged.

“You
know, I think I banged that chick last year. I never forget a pair of tits,”
Christian laughed.

“What
the fuck?” Rome mumbled. Unless he was seeing things, he’d just witnessed two
people manipulate objects with their minds. That wasn’t the first time he’d
seen something unusual in this town, but it was by far one of the weirdest. He
shook his head in confusion as he swung his bag forward, grabbing out an old
t-shirt and crossing the floor.

“Here,”
he said, offering it to her. The girl spared him a dirty look before dashing
away, leaving him holding his shirt, and his dignity in hand. Apparently she’d
rather be exposed than accept his help. No surprise
there, he
thought. Most of the people in town looked down on him.
They treated him like dirt, and then they wondered why he was so angry and
ill-mannered.
That wasn’t to say he was a bad kid
. Rome actually had a better
sense of right and wrong than most.

“Look,
we have a new janitor,” Christian quipped.

“I
don’t know what the hell you just did, but keep talking to me like that and the
real janitor will be picking your face up off the floor.” People were really
trying to test his patience today. Christian scoffed, and Rome watched as the
kid sized him up. “Let me save you the trouble. You wouldn’t stand a chance
against me in a fight.”

“Maybe
not a fair one.”

“Just
get out of my way before I make you.”

“What’s
your name?” Christian asked.

“None
of your fucking business.”

“No,
that’s entirely too long. I’m never going to remember that. I was
thinking it was something more like punk, or maybe
bitch. What do you
think, Adam?”

“Yeah,
he looks like a bitch to me,” Adam said.

Rome
shoved past them, slamming into Christian’s shoulder.

You
need to find the Dean’s office
,
he reminded himself.

If
he got another assault charge on his record he was going to be staring at the
inside of a jail cell until he turned eighteen. And somehow he knew, ‘They had
it coming,’ wasn’t going to be good enough. It had never worked before – and
those guys simply weren’t worth it. Rome wouldn’t admit it, even to himself,
but part of him wanted this to be real. Going to this school might actually
give him a chance at a better life, and more importantly, a way out of this
town. There weren’t many great things Rome could say about Redwood Bay. It was
surrounded by miles of dense wilderness and located in a port where no one ever
docked. The most exciting thing about it was probably the movie theater, not
that he ever had the time or money to go.

“What
do you want, Ariahna?”

Rome
clutched his hands over his ears, leaning against the banister and trying not
to fall down the stairs. The disembodied voice was deafening,
despite coming from at least a floor above him.
This hadn’t happened in months. Actually, he’d never transfixed on a
conversation without intending to before. The issue with an ability like his
typically lied in turning the volume down, not having it turn on for seemingly
no reason.

“I
thought maybe we could go down to orientation early? We can find some good
seats and start looking through the extracurriculars.”

“Yeah,
I’d rather go down to orientation alone. Besides, there’s still like an hour
before it’s even supposed to start. I know you’re a kiss ass, but really,
that’s a little ridiculous even for you.”

“Are
you mad at me for some reason?”

“No,
she’s just a bitch,” Rome mumbled. Someone shot him a dirty look as they passed
him on the stairs. That’s what he got for talking to himself. The voices picked
up again and Rome sighed, rubbing at his temples. For whatever reason, it
seemed he was doomed to hear this pointless conversation. At least it didn’t
feel like his ears were going to bleed anymore.

“Jeez,
do I really need to spell it out for you? This year isn’t going to be like
last, okay? I’m moving up in the world, and the fastest, easiest way to do that
is to drop the dead weight that’s been holding me down.”

“I
don’t understand,” Ariahna said.

“Then
let me explain it to you. You and I, we’re through.”

“But,
why? Are you saying you’re ditching me because I’m not cool enough to be your
friend?”

“There’s
a difference between being uncool and being lame. I’m not the only one who’s
heard about your big brainiac
classes. You know what’s worse than being
invisible? Being seen for the wrong reasons.”

Rome
drowned out the noises of everything around him, straining to listen as nothing
but silence followed. He wasn’t sure why he cared now, but he wanted to hear
that chick get chewed out for being such a harpie. If this girl wasn’t going to
stand up for herself, he had half a mind to do it for her. He peered up the
stairwell as a shuddering breath reached his ears. The rustling of clothes and
the sharp pattering of feet broke through the soft sounds of her crying. As the
noise grew louder, he could almost see her running down the hall, sprinting by
apathetic onlookers.

Rome
didn’t know why, but he had to get to her.

A
flash of dark red hair rounded the corner as he reached the third floor. The
girl slipped on the top step, and Rome threw out an arm to catch her, spinning
them towards the wall as she clung to him with trembling arms.

“What
did you think you were going to do, fly?” he said.

Ariahna
let out a quiet sob.

“I’m
sorry,” she whispered. Her face was buried against his chest, and she was too
embarrassed to let go. “I didn’t mean to run into you.”

“You didn’t run into me, I caught you. If I hadn’t been
here you’d have
been catching your fall with your face.” Rome could see
her shoulder
s shaking gently as her fingers clenched in the fabric of
his shirt. His throat tightened when he realized the sharpness of his tone had
only made matters worse.

“Maybe
you should sit down,” he said.

Aria
shook her head gently.

“How
about we sit down together?”

“No,”
she said, “that would be worse.”

He
frowned, resting his chin on the top of her head. “I can’t really stand here
forever,” he mumbled. Even if he was starting to feel like he wanted to. It
just felt right, holding her like this, comforting her. And that, more than
anything, made him feel incredibly strange. He rubbed slow circles into her
back, breathing in the sweet scent of her hair.

Ariahna
exhaled roughly. “On the count of three, I’m going to let go and walk away, and
we’re going to pretend that this didn’t happen.”

“I’m
not sure I can do that.”

“…Why
not?” she asked.

“Because
it doesn’t feel right.”

Rome
didn’t know what she looked like,
he hadn’t
even seen her face
, and yet he had the overwhelming urge to kiss her.
Maybe it was just all the tears making him uncomfortable, he thought. He
slipped a hand over the curve of her jaw, stroking her cheek gently with his
thumb.