Dark World (Book I in the Dark World Trilogy) (2 page)

Sighing, she resigned to satiate
herself with a large hardcover on the Big Bang Theory. A quick
glance around the busy library however, proved fruitless for a
place to sit.

The floor it is.

Scarlet crossed her legs and sunk to
the floor, the open book resting on her knees.

She had no idea how long she’d been
sitting there, lost within the minds of Stephen Hawking, Albert
Einstein and Carl Sagan, when she suddenly became aware of a
presence looming over her.

“
Is this seat
taken?”

Scarlet craned her neck, following a
pair of jeans-clad legs to the top. Her face burned when she
realized who it was.

Rory.

A flurry of fresh nerves rolled through
her stomach as she waved an unsteady hand over the space of floor
beside her. Not wanting him to see what she was reading she slammed
the large astronomy book shut, consequently blowing a hefty draft
of air into her face, sending her hair flying back. Quickly pulling
off her glasses and tucking the flyaway strands behind her ears,
she tried her best not to look as nauseated as she felt.

“
What are you
reading?”

He reached to take the book off her
lap, his hand grazing the inside of her thigh in the process. Her
mouth, now completely devoid of saliva, dropped open at his touch.
A delicious, musky scent wafted from him, leaving her light-headed
and somehow less intelligent.

“
No, I mean, it’s
just…something for science class,” she stammered, wishing she
hadn’t picked such a geeky book. As far as she knew, guys didn’t
particularly like girls with nerdy interests. At least, that’s what
the teen magazines suggested.

“
Hmmm…” A playful smirk
pulled at his lips while he flipped through the pages. “Very
interesting.”

“
Interesting?” Scarlet
repeated breathily, resisting the urge to run her hands through his
wavy, blonde hair.

“
Yah, I never pegged you for
an astronomer,” he stated, giving her a winning smile that made her
stomach drop. “I guess that’s another thing we have in
common.”

“
What? You? You’re
into…astronomy?” She raised her eyebrows in surprise.

Nodding, he continued to peruse the
pages with vague interest. A moment later, he suggested, “Maybe
after the movie, we can go out to my favorite stargazing
spot.”

“
Yes! That would be
wonderful!”

“
Great!”

Upon standing, he offered her his hand
and she accepted, clumsily pulling herself up. Scarlet winced as
her left leg prickled, announcing it was totally asleep. She tried
to stand still, pursing her lips into an awkward smile. Normally,
if her leg was to fall asleep, she couldn’t help but shake it and
whine until it was awake, but since she was attempting to appear
cool, she just stood there and squirmed, enduring it.

His eyebrows furled, eyeing her up and
down. “Do you…have to go to the washroom?”

Horror, sheer horror, swept over her.
Hot blood raced to her face and she contemplated running out of the
room in similar fashion to the zitty, red-haired kid she’d bumped
into earlier.

“
Um…no, my leg…it’s asleep.”
If there was a hole in the general vicinity, Scarlet would have
crawled into it—and died.

With a grin, Rory helped her to a
nearby chair. She rubbed her leg with her hand and silently cursed
herself for acting like a doorknob. Chin down and hair veiling her
face, she avoided raising her head to look at him.

He’s probably trying to
think of a way to get out of the date tonight.

She stared at the floor, numb with
humiliation. Between the narrow slats of her mousy brown hair, she
saw him kneel before her. He reached out, cradling her chin within
his palm, and gently lifted her face to meet his gaze. The warmth
of his hand made her woozy, but it was nothing compared to the way
he made her feel when his blue eyes locked with hers.

“
Scarlet,” he started,
tucking her hair behind her ears and leaning closer to her, his hot
breath feathering her face. “I’ve wanted to take you out for a very
long time…”

Only inches away, he tilted her chin up
further and before she knew it his soft, warm lips were pressed
against hers. Electricity surged through her body. Her head swam
with delicious dizziness.

She was wandering in a perfect dream. A
fairy tale.

My first kiss…was from Rory
Dean.

Great Expectations

“
Is Shelby picking you up
tonight?” Scarlet’s mother inquired, glancing back at her daughter
as she stirred a steaming pot of noodles on the stove. Already
paranoid of getting caught, Scarlet was certain she saw a flash of
suspicion cross her mother’s eyes.

“
No, I’m, uh, going to meet
her there, I’m just driving myself,” Scarlet stammered.

Rory had offered to pick her up, but
considering her mother’s adamant rules against dating, Scarlet
convinced him to meet her at the theater.

“
I don’t want you out too
late, sweetie. Okay?” Her mother turned her head in Scarlet’s
direction to give her the I-mean-it eyes, waving a dripping plastic
spoon haphazardly in her daughter’s direction. “You know what night
it is.”

“
Don’t worry, mom, nothing’s
going to happen to me.” Scarlet fought the urge to roll her
eyes.

Ironically, she already knew she was
going to be late. Rory had invited her to go stargazing after the
movie, she couldn’t say no to that.

I’ll deal with the
consequences later…he’s worth it.

“
Hello my gorgeous girls,”
her father’s cheery voice embraced the kitchen.

“
Hi Daddy,” Scarlet smiled,
rising and hugging him. His dark brown hair, spackled with silver,
was matted to his head from a long day under a hard hat. Slivers of
sawdust loitered on his broad shoulders, the bane of a hard-working
carpenter.

“
Hi honey,” her mother
called back as she fished out a spaghetti noodle and tested it for
doneness. “How was work?”

“
Oh good,” he answered with
a sigh, indicating that it wasn’t that great, but didn’t really
want to go into it. “And yours?”

“
Good, I have to go out to
Mrs. Dempsey’s house this evening and change her dressings.” Being
a respite nurse, she often worked odd hours.

Her father then turned towards his
daughter. “And you, Miss Scarlet? How was your day?”

She nodded. “It was good,” she echoed
their sentiments, though, in reality, her day had been outstanding,
having been kissed by Rory and all. But being that she wasn’t
allowed to date, she felt mildly dismayed that she couldn’t share
it with them.

“
Shall we have a movie and
popcorn night?” her dad asked, stealing a cookie from the cupboard
with one hand and shushing Scarlet with the other.

“
Scarlet is going out with
Shelby tonight,” her mother answered, catching him with the cookie
and flinging her test noodle at his head. Her dad ducked, leaving
the perfectly al dente noodle to stick to the wall behind
him.

“
Shelby?” Greg wandered into
the kitchen at just the right moment, a crude smirk painted across
his face. “I’m gonna get me some of that.”

Scarlet bristled, glaring at him as he
sat across from her at the table. “Shut up, Greg, she doesn’t want
whatever diseases you might have from the last hundred
girls.”

He grinned wider.

“
Guys,” her father warned,
then looked genuinely disappointed. “Oh…well, maybe we can hang out
tomorrow night.” His blue eyes widened, realization dawning. “But
tonight is…”

“
She knows, she has to be
back early.” Her mother’s tone almost made Scarlet change her mind
about tonight. Almost. “Right, young lady?”

“
Yes mother,” Scarlet
replied, “I promise I won’t be late.”

Guilt trickled through her. Scarlet
hated lying to her parents. They came by their paranoia honestly.
October was notorious for kidnappings in the Edmonton area. Not
every year, but too many to go unnoticed. Strangely, it almost
always occurred in threes. Three teens in just one
night.

Except the first time. Sybil Kavanagh.
That’s where the craziness began.

In the early 1900s, Sybil went missing
from her home in the middle of the night. The only items the police
recovered were her clothes and jewelry, found in an undisclosed
location. The papers speculated she’d been part of some kind of
Satanic cult, but it was never confirmed by authorities.

Sadly, one year to the day of his
sister’s disappearance, her only brother, Vincent, mysteriously
vanished as well. Their parents were completely devastated. Their
mother wound up in a mental hospital, while their father took to
the bottle. Candlelit vigils were still held on the anniversary of
Sybil and her brother’s disappearances, even though they occurred
almost a century ago.

The disappearances continued,
leaving a community gripped in terror. No one knew why. Or how.
They only knew the day. October 1
^st
, by the light of a full moon.

With help from the internet, the police
discovered Edmonton wasn’t alone in their plight, hundreds of
cities all over the world were experiencing the same phenomenon.
Kids going missing on the same night. Almost always in threes.
Their bodies never found.

Her mom set a plate of spaghetti before
each of them. Scarlet wound the noodles around her fork and filed
them into her mouth. Courtesy of the new and unsettling ambiance,
her food had been rendered tasteless despite the flavor sliding
past her tongue.

An uncomfortable hush fell over the
table, a century of superstition and legend thickening the air. No
one had to say the words out loud. She already knew what they were
thinking.

Today was October
1
^st
—and there was a full moon.

After supper, standing before her
closet, Scarlet sighed and inspected her lack of options. “What the
heck am I going to wear?”

She posed the question to Seraphine
lounging regally on the bed, who in turn raised a single, lazy
eyelid in her owner’s direction. Scarlet leafed through a few old
dresses, then decided to call Shelby for some advice.

Quickly grabbing her cell phone and
pressing her best friend’s number, she waited for her to answer.
Scarlet tapped her foot and paced the room, enduring what felt like
an endless stream of rings. “Hey Chickie! You excited or what?!”
Shelby’s exuberant voice responded, obviously aware of her caller’s
identity, courtesy of call display.

“
Sort of,” Scarlet replied
wryly. “I need help…what the heck should I wear?”

“
No problemo, I’ll be there
ASAP.” Shelby giggled and hung up, leaving Scarlet to gape at her
cell phone. Momentarily terrified, Scarlet tried not to think of
what her dear, sweet, eccentric friend might suggest she
wear.

Less than ten minutes later, there was
a light tapping on her bedroom window. For years, Shelby had scaled
the latticework nailed to the side of the house. Many nights, she
would sneak over and the girls would eat junk food, watch chick
flicks or play with Shelby’s Ouija board.

As she opened the window and helped
Shelby inside, Scarlet eyed the knapsack on her friend’s arm with
trepidation churning within.

“
What’d you
bring?”

“
You’ll see,” Shelby said
with a naughty twinkle behind her chestnut eyes.

“
I don’t want to look like a
slut or anything,” Scarlet warned.

“
Trust me, will
you?”

Shelby tossed her bag onto the bed,
earning a glare from Seraphine, unzipped it and began pulling out
various items: a couple of very short skirts, a pair of tight,
black jeans, and two or three small sweaters, but it was the black
boots she yanked out that made Scarlet sweat. What exactly did
Shelby have in mind? All Scarlet hoped was that Shelby didn’t leave
her looking like Lady Gaga.

“
Will you stop looking at me
like I’m a serial killer? I promise, you’ll look hot!” By throwing
one of the skirts onto the bed, she gave Scarlet the signal to
start trying things on. Scarlet warily removed her jeans and long
sweater. After sliding the first skirt over her hips, she was
officially horrified.

“
Shelby! I can’t wear this!
It barely covers my butt!”

“
You waxed, didn’t you?” she
teased, breaking into a giggle. “Don’t worry. You’ll be wearing
thick, black tights.”

“
Nullus
,” Scarlet remarked, implementing her
Latin fluency and shaking her head. She shimmied out of the short,
black skirt and threw it back on the bed. Reaching for the next
skirt, she knew right away it was the one. Mostly because it was
longer than the last. She zipped it up and breathed a sigh of
relief. Though she was a bit concerned that it was candy apple red,
it looked quite respectable.

“
Oooo, I like that one!
It’ll look awesome with the boots.” Shelby’s eyes widened and she
grinned like the Cheshire Cat, nodding as she looked Scarlet up and
down.